Saturday, October 4, 2014

for McDonald Dixon at 70



for McDonald Dixon at 70
 


“As we grow old

Impossibles shape before our eyes” (Dixon)

 

I must imagine you now

Walking away

Towards the waterfront

And the vendors’ arcade

Turning, out of my sight, down Jeremie Street.

 

Come back, like a rewinding video

Pedalling backwards

Past our grey names

Past yesterday’s yesterday;

Come with your sketches

Come with your tattered manuscripts

Come find some lost almond shade

Up Vigie beach,

 

And dear friend,

Be stentorian, be as ever, sure,

Right or wrong,

Be Dixon.

 

And, let me learn from you

Such faithful industry

Beyond talent, beyond award

Beyond tomorrow’s tomorrow,

 

Such faith that would hold my faith

Steady, steady,

Beyond our endings’ never-ending line.
 
 

 (c) John Robert Lee
(c) Photo: 'Stones' by J. R. Lee