Poem for PJ
Little egg, perhaps
you were meant to have
just one downy moment,
a warmth, a rocking love
that for being brief,
encompassed the whole of joy.
In memory of Peter James Babcock, October 9-31, 2006
Poems for Rob
Across the globe,
voices crackle on the wind.
Red petals fall like tears.
*
Keobong (a great mountain peak)
I am reading the poet, Korean Ko Un
who lived ten years as a Buddhist monk.
He is writing Ten Thousand Lives to record the people he meets.
I think he would have enjoyed meeting you.
*
Today, I recalled the print of the college
you were given for service to the school.
I can see framed trees and red bricks
but not your upturned face.
*
A tree is strong.
Even when the wind howls,
its roots merely shiver.
*
A heart swells again.
Lungs flood with air.
Even these fragile things
can forget the knife.
*
I had not seen you since college.
Now, I see you in newspapers.
When I scroll through my mail,
your name leaps out at me.
Pouring tea, I see your face in steam.
Now that you are gone,
I see you everywhere.
In memory of Robert Wone, 1974 - 2006