life just keeps
getting
'Darker'
the dawn
somehow
must be close
if the old adage
'They Say its Darkest Right Before The Dawn'
is anything to go by
my love I have learned
is caught in some bureaucratic limbo
perched
ere stranded as it were
in a country
between two worlds
just as
my former life is fast toppling
( though my want of an exit from it is
palpable as is)
still, the realization that the last nails
have been hammered
gives me fits of what am I really to feel
and then a mixed strange news
that a once dear friend and fellow
poet died just two weeks passed
(November 13nth, 2010)
though he and I were not so terribly close
many of my post poems friends I know were
and I am uncertain if even they yet know of his
unexpected demise
and so
the world smiles a little less brightly today
for no more poems upon this writer's field
shall he write again
in the hall ways of Heaven now
will his words skip to be writ
God's speed Afzal........................
(Nov. 29, 2010 207am)
Author's Notes/Comments:
I learned through a very reliable source a good and long time friend who had spoken on the telephone with Afzal a couple years ago. This person informed me of calling him the the day I wrote this poem and that another man answered the phone number he called and my friend asked to speak to Afzal and the gentleman informed him he was his son and that his father had died on November 13, 2010 and my friend said he sounded very sad and distraught that this was no prank from the man's tone it was obvious there had been a death in the family. Needless to say, I was shocked. Afzal and I had a nice friendship through our mutual love of poetry over the years. I met him in the summer of 2006 on line in a books and lit room in yahoo. I even wrote a critique of his book 'Twists Of Fate' as he was kind enough to mail me an actual copy of it and even signed it for me. I did not always agree with Afzal's ways of getting people to write poems for him but deep down I felt he had a good heart and I enjoyed his'less is more' style of poetry writing so much. I will miss his occasional cheery hellos to me and his hopes always that I am happy . To very loosely paraphrase from Hamlet 'Good night Sweet prince may the angels carry you to your destiny!' I wish you Always good night Afzal , always Good night my friend..................sincerely your favorite ( or so you claimed) American Poetess................Melissa Lundeen.
