Because we all want to write more poems.
For Ray Bradbury
Your voice, unique in cadence and in tone,
That swarmed with worlds but always-human tales,
That thrummed with myths of Earth and far beyond,
Where our imaginations could take root,
Revealing shrewdly of ourselves—yet when
The farthest from our home, most mirroring
Our human essence—O, that voice is still!
From Green Town, Illinois, you sprang to life,
And fetched us golden apples from the sun
Of your conceit; your rockets fired and filled
The summer air with heroes' dreams of space.
You hurled our minds, in gleaming silver craft,
Beyond our shrinking world and made us then
Confront our hapless selves on lonesome Mars.
O, how I miss you even now! That voice!
My palimpsest of memory is layered
With word-inked illustrations dark and sweet;
I shuddered and I wept by turns as through
Your worlds I glided on your ship of ink.
I cannot be the man I am but for
Your words, so deeply have they wormed within.
The vault of your imagining’s now closed;
But there upon the doors in strong relief
Remain the words you left behind.
And we, like grateful acolytes, our fingers
Pressed upon the steel, restore the tales
To life. We draw these temple-rubbings forth
With feeling eyes to blossom on our breath.
But Uncle Einar’s drumhead wings beat fears—
Will all your books, as yet untouched by flame,
Suffice to slake our thirst to hear you speak?
Can all your stories fill the void, or mend
The gaping hole that tore imagination’s
Heart at your demise? I fear no tongue
Will match your blend of poetry-in-prose!
I must be still; this grief would swallow love.
There’s comfort yet in ritual: and so,
Within the fearful breach that tears my heart,
I’ll sepulcher your bones and dare to trust
They’ll fertilize imagination’s roots.
For surety, infused with teardrops’ brine,
I raise my glass of dandelion wine.
- Benjamin Gorman's Shared Poems
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Comments
Benjamin Gorman
October 22, 2012
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Started this one the day I
Started this one the day I heard the news of his death, while traveling across the country in early June.
Benjamin Gorman
October 24, 2012
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Alternate ending - what say you all?
For surety, infused with teardrops’ brine,
We raise this toast of dandelion wine.
Less halting = better?
Clayton Medeiros
October 24, 2012
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I prefer the alternate as
I prefer the alternate as more explicit. I recently reread Dandelion Wine--a joy.
Benjamin Gorman
October 24, 2012
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It's a go
I agree. Smoother read, too. I finally read that novel in recent years (I'm a terrible reader) and love it.
Benjamin Gorman
October 24, 2012
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And it should be "I"
who raises the toast, since that was the most recent subject.
Benjamin Gorman
November 18, 2014
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Coupla tweaks
But I think I can rest easy now. And I hope Ray can, too.