Hey Emeraldi, it's almost that time of year . . .
In Reply
To a gem I call green, for her spring day of entering that is mere days before mine:
In days of spring
Not far removed
Both you and I
Have grown, and grow
Together in many ways;
You, sparkling gem,
Breath life into words
Bring words into song,
Articulations become bright lanterns
From your hand, to see
What was there
All along.
A special kind of grace
You strike out of Wastelands,
You make paradise
And you pepper every spoken step
With immortal flowers.
Like the petals of the
Hycathinaceae
You pluck from the deepest places
Bright jewels of truth
And in verse light the faces
Of each adoring reader.
I dabble here in your sphere
A bumbling oaf I am
In a realm over which you stand
No less Olympic, no less elegant or grand
Than Juno herself as she
Works Achaean wonders
Legends speak of men born half divine
Creatures part mortal and part god
And I sometimes wonder, if like strong Achilles
Or tender Aeneas,
Or mighty Turnus,
Or glorious Hercules
That in your beautiful blood
Does not run
Suchlike immortality.
And like a graceful feathered swan
That lights on water or meets
The air,
As easily as that Odysseus strings
His mighty bow which no rival could,
You flow from prose to verse
And in one you are as radiant-
No, I'm not original-
As the sun,
And in the other you are as scintillating
As the wide ocean, as strong as its
Rolling, wise depths.
And the glowing marvel of your words,
Either prosaic or lyrical,
Serve only to illuminate
The beauty of a most magnificent,
Inspiring soul,
For you, it is most plain
Are the real masterpiece,
A masterpiece which makes masterpieces,
You are the Emeraldian Carmentis
Who sings and fills the world
With the most profound kind
Of beauty.
