I wrote this after learning of the passing of my dear friend Mary Schlitzer.
We worked together behind the scenes of many good causes over the years.
She was brilliant, kind, fierce in friendship, and full of grace.
She touched hundreds of lives—this is just one attempt to say what she meant.
—Dan R.

Gut punched, struck by sadness,
the wind knocked out of me—
my understanding of the world
and its workings askew
upon hearing the news
of my dear friend’s passing.

A quarter century spent together
behind the scenes of organizations
committed to tikkun olam—repairing the world.

They were fighting for what was right,
and we were helping them.
She minded the debits and credits,
while I made sure the bits and bytes
went where they were intended.

Over the years
we’d catch a bite or meet for drinks
to talk over old times,
celebrating past wins.
Now moaning that our
banners were in tatters,
we would hug our goodbyes
beneath the star-strewn ceiling
of Grand Central.

I am in her debt, grateful for her
kindness when I lost my bride,
celebration of my thoughts on the page,
comments when the photos I took
had caught the light,
encouragement to begin again—
to try to begin again.

Now that I’ve spread the news
on the various forums of the modern world,
I realize that she made friendship an artform.

All across the nation,
people she so eloquently touched
and made to feel so special
through the intensity of her friendship—
have shared their incredulity,
their heartbreak,
their sorrow poured into messages,
tears on phone calls,
moments of stunned silence
as they try to make sense
of a world without her.