A humble thank you for: A humble thank you for reading and resonating :)
I admit that I'm not an old man, I'm 36. But there is some weight I hold that makes me feel 90 at times. I wish the situation with her ended better, so there's pain there.
But there's also a lot of really beautiful memories there as well. There's a lot of exhilarating thoughts and emotions I can use to fuel new spirit today if I figure out how to convert that energy into something more renewable.
All in due time, perhaps? But again thanks again for reading. Take care :)
I like this brief poem a lot,: I like this brief poem a lot, although I admit to not finding the connection to Caligula (and I presume the reference is to the Caligula).
I have the start of Lung Cancer: Starward, I got a joyist ride from life
by now, even in bad times God is there for
all. You just let him lead the way and all will be fine!
Trust in God....
Thank you, so much, for that: Thank you, so much, for that validation. I shall be glad if this poem, or if any of the poems in this series, makes life a little easier for those who may still struggle as I struggled in my adolescence; I want them to know they are not alone, they are not perverts, and they should not be ashamed to embrace their natures, and love whom they need to love. That is my humble hope for this poem, and the series that contains it.
Comments from you are always precious to me; but this comment, at a time when you are grieving, is especially previous. I had told you, months ago, of Etienne, my friend from college. This poem is about him, and about my utter failure to treat him as well as he treated me. He bore me no ill will afterward; but I bear tremendous ill will both to my younger self, that blundered the opportunity to take the friendship to a higher level, and to those around us, on campus and off, whose prejudices brought out the coward in me. He, too, is in Heaven, now. I know he will greet your Father warmly.
Knowing the event that: Knowing the event that inspired this poem, I would like to tread lightly---commenting with the utmost respect to your Father, and the utmost respect to this poem. When I was in school, John Milton's elegy, Lycidas, was considered the high point of elegy, but that poem seems stilted and artificial compared to yours. And this is a lively poem---it does not mourn, but rather, celebrates your Father's life here and his life with God in eternity; and so it offers comfort to all of us who have felt the temporary separation from loved ones and friends, a separation which the Maker of Stars will adjust in Love and Mercy for our eternal happiness. The center of your poem operates in two lines: the real side of forever and where there are / no endings. I applaud the line break in the latter phrase---giving the words "no endings" a single line emphasizes the meaning visually as well as verbally. (Your poems are full of such subtle strategies, and some enterprising graduate student is going to construct a disseration---and a long one---on that aspect of your Poetry alone.) And, of course, the final line seals the poem's spiritual grandeur by naming the nature and identity of God: Love, as the Apostle Saint John has revealed to us. In that last line of that single, most spiritual and most important word, is an allusion not only to Saint John's first letter, but also the thirteenth chapter of Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthian Christians---the great hymn to Love that was revealed to Him by the Spirit. And following it, in the fifteenth chapter, is the Hymn of Resurrection; and I cite all of these to say that your Father now sees all of these aspects.
I should like to say one more thing about that line while you wait for me. I once heard a very fine sermon that reminded us that there is no time in Heaven---it is of infinite duration. Therefore, while we here, who are still caught in time, must wait, those who have preceded us there will not have long to wait. It will seem like only a matter of minutes, to them, who wait for us (to whom, illusively, it may seem like a long time). So those whom we wait---sometimes for whole lifetimes---to see, will receive us to themselves in what Saint Paul called the blink of an eye.
That is why I do not say words like, "I am sorry for your loss," very often. Because, as the devout believer, the actor Peter Cushing once pointed out, our loved ones are not lost (as if misplaced), they are merely temporarily absent from where we are until we shall be where they are.
You have honored your Father with this poem; and, honoring him, you have honored God---and that is the chief responsibility of a real Poet. And you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I believe you just changed: I believe you just changed some lives.
You can call this penance or guidance in a world where "prejudice, around us, was too efficient" (as it is today), but I call it liberation. Your eloquent, heart-gripping advice opens the doors of societal prisons where lovers languish in the cruel clutches of "what could have been" and self-loathing because they succumbed to intimidation.
This is also a stunning and unflinching mission statement that is as important as it is beautiful.
Standing by you in your support of a basic, human right.
Although the last phrase of: Although the last phrase of the last line stumbled me, I really like that first stanza's words: I am writing for the beach / where the moon meets the lake. That phrase is magnificent.
I experienced this, for the: I experienced this, for the first time and not the last, in January of 1978, when my then college sweetheart announced---at lunch among several of our mutual friends---that our relationship was over (and that table got very silent very quickly). The short lines of your poem keeps the emotion flowing, and that emotion spoke volumes to me as I read it. I am sorry you have had to experience this sort of thing, but you describe it with verbal skill.
I applaud your attitude,: I applaud your attitude, which is an example to us all. However, that word "had" is past tense. And you, and your posted poems, are very much in the present tense. And the many poems you have ahead of you are still in the future tense.
Because you are an: Because you are an irreplaceable pillar of this site, your sincere and powerfully moving expression is an example for all of us follow: and that example is to make things right. You are certainly part of what makes this platform more than a landing place for poems, but a community.
And the links were an enjoyable bonus.
God bless you, peaceful poet.