You were the
Refractory soul,
Willing to be touched,
In a peculiar kind of faith
Reaching out, - round-eyed -
Not knowing whether a monster
Would eat you, or if you would be
Wrapped cozily in the honey of
An unexampled apotheosis

In an arcane way,
It made more sense when
You were ingenuous; when you
Were eager to be known; when you
Journeyed beyond those most dreaded
Limitations; when you danced to the tunes
Of sage echoes; when you cast out your
Throbbing heart upon the waters of
Chance and foresaw harvesting

And your verve stained me,
And your mysteries lingered,
AND
When I felt you, and a
Flame of curiosity enkindled,
I knew there was more at work
Than our self-centered imaginings;
Something was happening that would
Absolve the dark places (in YOU) to illume
A languishing heart eager for more than
The drivel of poetic clambering

And you were more than anyone
Could hope for – a vision – an arrant
Provoking ghost, an anthem to the bliss
Of sempiternal hypothesis, and you deftly
Worked the magic of shadows and teased;
And when it was understood that you were
Revered, you controlled those in your web
With the shrewdest of BRILLIANCE

Even embracing the chesty
Quasimodo TYPES with affected
Impressions of humility; and stomaching
Backwards reviews and keyboard hieroglyphs
As if these threadbare distortions were inroads
To some fresh new level of creative nirvana

It was then that you became more
Human than goddess, but I held you
Dear even more …

And now as the river winds farther
Into the distance, and the once leaping
Flames of vision settle into smoldering embers,
I call back those cherished rare moments when
The ripples of stirring between two souls - willing
To go beyond limits – adopted together a warming
Light and became, for a season, more than just reflections

Richard Lloyd Cederberg
A Monumental Journey Novels