Learning To Wave To Strangers

A short poem in memory of my sweet cousin Camellia Nini Lynch. When my time here is done, if I can leave behind half of the legacy you left, I will count my life one worth living. I love you.

I remember your laugh.

It was louder than you were big.

I miss the scratchy sound it made

When it came bursting out of you

And the way you held my hand

When we sang My Brown Eyed Girl.

Or smiled at me in that way

That helps a child grow up to be a good man

In a world that doesn’t wave to strangers anymore

 

I remember the countless displays,

Or shrines really, of frogs

In various states of undress.

Some were obviously heading to work,

Some golfing, swimming, having a smoke

Some were living in your house,

Living right along side you.

Everyone called you Nini Frog for a reason.

 

I remember watching our family reverie

By the pool table in your basement,

Someone was beating someone

And you were sitting at the piano,

Or maybe the bar, cracking jokes

The liquor and beer raised the volume

To a very happy decibel

The cigarette smoke framed the old ghost stories

I’d heard as long as I could remember

And we’d get all worked up about tornadoes

And black cats crossing the road

But I learned how to love unconditionally

By watching you all dance and sing

The Crocodile Rock like it was the only thing that mattered.

 

Maybe it was.

 

The kindness and joy that made you up,

Can’t be replaced by the simple memories I have of you,

But I don’t know that I would be able to reconcile the loss

If I didn’t have at least that to hold on to.

You didn’t know it, but your joy protected me

From the cold, selfishness of a young man’s life.

Your kindness was a book I read a thousand times

Learning to keep my heart warm,

So that I could smile and wave to strangers

 

Reviews

[Ted Kniffen]

Beautifully written, Brett. A fitting tribute for a lost friend. But loss, although extremely painful at first, is only for the physical, your cousin lives on in you, and everyone she touched. Good write

[Tony Jordan]

Some people's energy and personality seems to almost burst forth - they not only light up rooms - they recharge everyone in them.

The brightest burn out so quickly though - it seems.

I have felt your title - in the company of such a woman. Felt that you could befriend the world with them. Do that. In her memory.

This is class Brett.
:)

[Rosilani Murdoch]

This is wonderful. The imagery you give makes me feel like I am back in my childhood. The innocence of events through a child's eyes coupled with the hint of sadness, that of a loss and another type. I like how you didn’t come right out and write directly that sadness into words. It is much more powerful with it tinging the happy thoughts and memories in the poem.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh this brings me back to the summer of 67...

my girl Cindy...my "Brown Eyed Girl" and how she made me feel like i mattered so much...


and when i was with her...top of the world...
"I could smile and wave to strangers"
feeling they envied me being with her.
love it.

j.