for Glenna Loar-Nielsen

 

….

Who knows when it comes,

the whys and wherefores –

which month, what day, what year?

 

But I heard, somewhere,

that you recently died –

yesterday, today, or some other.

 

On the long side, short side,

one side or another,

which day that it was,

does it matter?

 

To mention your name,

I poured through my books

for a picture – 

did I know you or what?

 

And, yes, so I did; 

but, then again, not.

And you? did you

know me, or no?

Most likely, probably not.

 

Yet still,

we shared a space and some time;

we held up our two worlds in common.

And then, when in time,

our two world elided,

you went your way, and I went mine.

 

In pencil, I jotted 

the date of your death,

by your picture

in the small place allotted.

I don’t know why;

but I did, even so.

And I wrote down this poem,

dedicated to you,

to someone, that I didn’t know.

 

And in my next book,

your poem there, shall go;

where both of our lives

become posthumously

Connected!

 

 

©2013, Marvin Loyd Welborn