you wanted to honor him? Painted out in brush strokes,
Propped up on an easel that I broke,
(But fixed with duct-tape)
An unframed canvas, dog-eared, moth-eaten-
Upon which were painted Great Blue whales,
Pirate ships with black death-flags unfurled,
And bare-breasted mermaid nymphs
Riding waves like wild stallions,
Leading an army of storm clouds
On towards Armageddon
I set sail on that ocean,
Without a thought to run ashore,
Steering by the stars,
I got caught up in constellations;
I hunted with Orion
And swam with schools of starfish,
Thinking about Earth-bound whales,
Their diminishing numbers
Doomed because we do not do unto them
As we would have them do unto us
How could we have forgotten-
Their futures were in our keeping.
Music begins to play
At the edge of my awareness
Like the sound of a forlorn coyote
Left behind wounded and starved...
It reverberates through the amphitheater of night,
Undulating frantically, a desperate crescendo
Fading into futility, a single drum beat slows...
I cringe and cover my ears with my hands to no avail
The song has no mercy for the penitent or the mad
Maudlin as laughter on the day of the funeral,
Full of desire and intent as if it were a living thing...
My spirit withers in Epiphany:
What I was to have, and now cannot become...
Frame such moments of existence,
Each painting found unsigned and dusted
In brown boxes up in attics
Forgotten and forsaken
Until touched with a single tear given to them
By you...
Frame them in your memories
With your other treasured keepsakes
And present them to the future
With hope that another soul may feel
This too...
Propped up on an easel that I broke,
(But fixed with duct-tape)
An unframed canvas, dog-eared, moth-eaten-
Upon which were painted Great Blue whales,
Pirate ships with black death-flags unfurled,
And bare-breasted mermaid nymphs
Riding waves like wild stallions,
Leading an army of storm clouds
On towards Armageddon
I set sail on that ocean,
Without a thought to run ashore,
Steering by the stars,
I got caught up in constellations;
I hunted with Orion
And swam with schools of starfish,
Thinking about Earth-bound whales,
Their diminishing numbers
Doomed because we do not do unto them
As we would have them do unto us
How could we have forgotten-
Their futures were in our keeping.
Music begins to play
At the edge of my awareness
Like the sound of a forlorn coyote
Left behind wounded and starved...
It reverberates through the amphitheater of night,
Undulating frantically, a desperate crescendo
Fading into futility, a single drum beat slows...
I cringe and cover my ears with my hands to no avail
The song has no mercy for the penitent or the mad
Maudlin as laughter on the day of the funeral,
Full of desire and intent as if it were a living thing...
My spirit withers in Epiphany:
What I was to have, and now cannot become...
Frame such moments of existence,
Each painting found unsigned and dusted
In brown boxes up in attics
Forgotten and forsaken
Until touched with a single tear given to them
By you...
Frame them in your memories
With your other treasured keepsakes
And present them to the future
With hope that another soul may feel
This too...