Author's Notes:

1.) I wrote this poem for the recent 10th anniversary of a young man's death, to give to his parents who are dear friends of mine. The young man died of a brain aneurism at 32 years of age, in good health otherwise - a top sportsman. He had a loving partner and 2 small children. He woke in extreme pain at 1.00am and was taken to hospital, where quick surgery for the brain aneurism appeared to save him; but 2 days later he deteriorated and died.
I don't have children myself and I was particularly attached to this lad. When he was going through his tearaway teenage years and decided he didn't like his parents' rules, he ran away from home to live on the streets. He turned up at my place one night and told me he'd rather live with me because I was 'cool'. He didn't want me to tell his parents where he was. I told him he could stay as long as he liked, but I was certainly going to tell them that he was safe with me. He stayed for a while and discovered I had rules too, but he had enough time-out with me, and long conversations, that he went back home to his parents in a more agreeable frame of mind.

This happened in New Zealand. I googled the following information, relevant to US.
According to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, 3 to 6 million people are living with an unruptured brain aneurysm in the United States. Every year, 25,000 people have a ruptured brain aneurysm and about 40% of the cases are fatal.
"When an aneurysm ruptures there's a 50% chance that people don't even make it to the hospital," said Dr. Tom Yao with the Norton Neuroscience Institute.
Oftentimes, there are no warning signs until the aneurysm becomes large, leaks blood or ruptures. If an aneurysm presses on nerves in your brain, you could experience a droopy eyelid, change in your vision, pain above or behind the eye, a dilated pupil and numbness or weakness on one side of the face or body.
If an aneurysm ruptures, you might feel a sudden, severe headache, nausea, vomiting, a stiff neck and you could lose consciousness.
Doctors say it is common for brain aneurysms to be misdiagnosed.
"People will think this is a migraine or a cluster headache or eye pain, sometimes they'll refer to it as sinus infection and physicians will give them antibiotics and send them on their way. If it is a bleed and it's missed, the results can be catastrophic," said Dr. Carlos David of the Lahey Clinic.

2.) "Still, we can wish upon a far star, because, dearest boy, that's where you are." These lines in the last stanza refer to something the young man's parents did to remember him by. They paid for naming rights to a star, so they could look heavenwards and see him. The star's name is not registered with any scientific organisation so I suppose it is a little like paying to adopt a tree in a forest, something else someone can pay for here in NZ.

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