I remember
You twirled your jet black hair
Incessantly
Coiled like Mephisto’s hornéd cage:
All wide-eyed wonder
Riffing obsessively
On the patterns
Of those imagined creations.
I remember
The university days
Fulsome with a Jesuitical rage:
Reading, critiquing
Sitting on the library floor
Teasing apart
Each newly worshipped artefact
Novel or poem:
I remember
How I shadowed your love affairs
The older women you so craved:
Befriended them
And saw all your boyish charm
Through their wistful eyes:
When the pull of inertia
Paired with that playful smile
Entangled your love in listless threads.
I remember
The aura of your handsome beauty.
I was proud to be your friend
Even when you sentenced me to fraud:
As I, so often, doubted your calling in words.
I still remember your paintings:
The seascape on board
Waves and foam flecked with intensity
Washed out like fingerprints fading.
I remember
The disbelief
The parsing of ways
Travel and temperance altering lives.
We let our friendship wither
Time and distance
Never quite capturing the measure of our ardent love:
Now you are gone.
I remember
A Christmas card, a passing message
Announced your death
Months beyond the day:
At your desk, no doubt
Working on some new venture
Parlaying with practice your sweetest intent
The realm of death entrancing.
I remember
Those deep-seated days
Almost aching with anticipation and dread
Spinning the gist of new knowledge
Onwards to that wild-breathed future.
Now, the warmth of our words
The playful tenderness we engendered
Summons reflection on all the losses
That I had so forgotten.
The boyish ardour of your lovely voice:
It echoes across the years.
I remember
July 2020
Gar Jones
You twirled your jet black hair
Incessantly
Coiled like Mephisto’s hornéd cage:
All wide-eyed wonder
Riffing obsessively
On the patterns
Of those imagined creations.
I remember
The university days
Fulsome with a Jesuitical rage:
Reading, critiquing
Sitting on the library floor
Teasing apart
Each newly worshipped artefact
Novel or poem:
I remember
How I shadowed your love affairs
The older women you so craved:
Befriended them
And saw all your boyish charm
Through their wistful eyes:
When the pull of inertia
Paired with that playful smile
Entangled your love in listless threads.
I remember
The aura of your handsome beauty.
I was proud to be your friend
Even when you sentenced me to fraud:
As I, so often, doubted your calling in words.
I still remember your paintings:
The seascape on board
Waves and foam flecked with intensity
Washed out like fingerprints fading.
I remember
The disbelief
The parsing of ways
Travel and temperance altering lives.
We let our friendship wither
Time and distance
Never quite capturing the measure of our ardent love:
Now you are gone.
I remember
A Christmas card, a passing message
Announced your death
Months beyond the day:
At your desk, no doubt
Working on some new venture
Parlaying with practice your sweetest intent
The realm of death entrancing.
I remember
Those deep-seated days
Almost aching with anticipation and dread
Spinning the gist of new knowledge
Onwards to that wild-breathed future.
Now, the warmth of our words
The playful tenderness we engendered
Summons reflection on all the losses
That I had so forgotten.
The boyish ardour of your lovely voice:
It echoes across the years.
I remember
July 2020
Gar Jones