In The Tears Of A Stranger

I learned many things from him ... 

That the trackless path

is gifted

to those

who believe

That the distance

between thoughts

can only be connected

by words

That the idea itself

 is worthless

without the thing

it expressed

That tomorrow

is no more important

than yesterday

or today

That the bullfighter

must never die

with the bull

still alive

That revolution

is the truest place

where death

is reborn

That real courage

is only measured

by the one

sorely lacking

That to love her once

is better

than to love

her again

That you must

when you must

until the bugles

have stopped

That worshipping

oneself

is life’s fatal

devotion

That the jungle

we chase

is the jungle

we live in

That the willingness

to say it

frees a willingness

to act

That each great new

adventure

begets a greater

new ending

That in the tears

of a stranger

bleeds the heart

— of a friend

(Key West: January, 1994)