I see you

1
Though I never saw you
I see you now.
Can hear your thoughts on blood
And on marriage.

2
More and more I dwell
On you, all your poems
All you saw, and thought
And did not write.

3
Why am I called to you now?
For three years your book
Has sat there, read only
On occasion, till now.

4
Now I see your beauty, your truth.
Now I want to emulate you, copy you
Become your disciple, your loyal
Apprentice, learn your skill.

5
Your poems seem illogical to me
For I can hear only half the noise
Cannot read
The dialogue in your mind.

6
I cannot be like you, for you
Had a life, filled
With joy, and sorrow
And experience that I lack.

7
But I can try. I can throw
My eager self at your books,
Read, absorb, as is my wont
Then exude, as is yours.

8
Caution. Be that my watchword?
I have none now. I long to chase
The fragile dream of fame
Though your own was bitter sweet.

9
Who was LG? I cannot
Copy, if I do not know.
Man? So you said to him.
Woman? Somehow, I do not know.

10
Oh author, oh mage
Oh creator life, you
Who have done all
That I have not.

11
Why now? Why not before?
I arose yesterday with a burning urge
To write an ode to you. This I did.
Perhaps I shall publish it someday.

Chrysanthemum Tears

Long life, tainted by recollection of things unsaid

Things undone.

Unraveled. Twisted. A mangled mirage of muddled fractures.

Reflections, now, mingling with the shattered dreams.

Did I forget you too soon?

After I

Dismissed you

Out of hand?

Surplus, I said.

Excess

Redundant

Superfluous

Unnecessary

Useless.

I wish I had not sent you away so quickly. I may have needed you.

But I remember.

Still.

And shed you one chrysanthemum tear.