Friday, April 15, 2022

Coda



For George 
April 11, 2022

In long years now suddenly past
Memories float before we understand 
That they are the realness of all that
We have left when he is gone 

On a terrible April day
We lost this beautiful human being 
And searching for consolation
I close my eyes this night
And sense him filling up into
Eternity, tethers loosening as 
He flies above these bonds of earth
And in his gentle ways
We are with him
He carries us, for
Such is love 

               *************

On this day there was no rain,
The air temperate
And not unusual in Maine

In the ordinary palate of that sky,
His last moments hoped serene and sunny, 
Portending spring, 
Up on the second level
Of the place he told us was going 
To be his last, his last big build
I imagine as he grasped his hammer
He knew the daffodils were 
Just beginning, altho no lupines yet
And that Androscoggin shimmered 
In the placid of the day 

And then 
Mandala, veiled and porous, 
Encircling a certain slant of light,
Whiff of sawdust,
Quirk of wind,
Paused his given nanosecond in 
This life’s time, and 
George was gone. 
This was his day.
And now he goes, as 
He goes now 
Into the gold of his new light.