To "Rusty" Sullivan
They told me you were dead, and I suppressed an inward smile,
For what a fool I'd be to think it true!
There's none of us remaining here that are alive as you.
You spent your life in anxious quest; you wandered for a while;
You never found on Earth the thing you sought.
You might have, had you stayed home,
Had you not gone out and fought.
And then again, perhaps you would have served your life in peace,
A person incomplete,
Ever looking for the death you chased with crippled feet.
Your search has gained you passage to a place where troubles cease.
Pity? No, I envy you, my friend.
You've just begun to live out what we mortals call an end!
© Millie Crosier Heym
Written in 1967 by Millie Crosier (now Heym) who met Rusty in 1965,
loved him and was his friend for two years,
and knew him well enough to understand his desire to die young.