I did not weep today
When you flew away
After bringing
Your young cats
Home to my house
And spending
Three precious days
Sharing
With me
Not profundities
But little things
Kitty coddling
Endless movies
Cooking and laughing.
After those days ended
And your dear image Vanished behind
The revolving glass
Then, when my bliss
Should have fled,
I refused to let it go.
Instead
I kept you with me.
All the way home
I carried you
In my heart
And you are still
Right here,
Alive and real
And sweet as Honeydew.
Because
This I promise
This I swear
And only this
Is true:
The essence
Of you
Is in me
And the essence
Of me
Is in you.
That is why
No matter how
Things appear
Parting
Is illusion
And even Death
Nothing
To fear.
His trickster’s knees
Go wobbly
And he slips
Like a shadow away
In the Light
Of this
Round and Shining Day.
And only now
That I have told you
This
Only now
Am I weeping.
Trudi Lee Richards
Trudi Lee Richards, a poetic and musical member of the Universal Human Nation, is the author of On Wings of Intent, a biography of Silo; Soft Brushes with Death, a Jorge Espinet Primer; Confessions of Olivia, a fictional autobiography; and Fish Scribbles. She has also co-authored two books: Experiences on the Threshold and Ambrosia - Poetic Recipes/Recetas poeticas. Exactly two of her poems have been published by anyone other than her less-than-modest self: “The Great 21st Century Poemic" appeared in the April 2021 edition of Global Poemic (globalpoemic.wordpress.com); and "Fairies of the Forest" appeared in the Palo Alto Times "Youth Said It" column in 1957. In the '90s she also wrote for, edited and published an independent San Francisco newspaper, Human Future; and in the '70s she co-founded the San Francisco arts publication La Mamelle, which morphed into Art Com before it died, and whose remnants are now housed in the Stanford Archives. A graduate of Stanford University, she helped raise several humans from infancy, and is now enjoying their friendship. Currently she tends to wander between Oregon and California, enjoying the company of her beloved community of friends and family. She can more or less reliably be found at the west coast Park of Study and Reflection, outside Red Bluff in Northern California, on the third Saturday of every month.
