To L.B.

Your shadow has not faded though you are no longer here

A footprint that remains clear though it has been more than a year

Time's bell, cast fossilized memories, echoes with chimes sublime

Word of Atum by Thoth chiseled, hieroglyphic rhyme

Fertilized seed of verse sprouted under your shade

From scorching sun this tree protector in blazing critics' glade

Casting off its shell, emerging from its pod

Vestil virgin in temple unshod, naked before their god

Reviews

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

this work has a surprising amount of pathos coming from you. the first line sent a stabbing pain in my chest, i've lost my mother last year, and her shadow is certainly still here. yet, as usual, your perception is not limited to yourself but much wider. the second stanza imagines death from the dead's perpective. 'Casting off its shell, emerging from its pod,' departure is painful but is liberating; my mother has certainly taught not to fear death but embrace it. she lived without regrets, i intend to do the same.

[Soren]

Thank you so much my friend for the read and interpretive comment regarding this poem. Yes indeed it may be taken as such but I deliberatly left out its origin. It was written in tribute to an old mentor on another site that left and I had heard no more from. There are few other poets that take such interest in their fellows work and you I count as one of three I have known over the years. Your words are ever encouraging and most meaningful

[s.azeem]

your work is "the blue prick of flame" that poetry is to language. No potential is lost to rhyme, your writing resonates with the reader. The aa-bb-cc-dd rhyme scheme feels like a heartbeat which I think adds everything to your poem, even in death, the poem is throbbing with life force.

thank you

[Soren]

You are too kind. I thank you so much for your gracious remarks they are most appreciated