left us yesterday
for good
departing quietly
from his San Francisco home
from the city
he had honored by his work
and which in turn
saw fit to honor him
he lived an active life
and long
he'd made it
to a hundred years plus one
and time
had only served to sweeten him
his wry smile
near the end
was warm
the hard-won
innocence
of a man
who's seen the world
for what it is and then
chosen the lyric side of life
the lyric out
as he himself
once called it
may his soul now
find peace among the ranks
of angel artists
activists
heaven's Beat poets
may he continue
his insurgence there on high
shaking up heaven
as he shook this world below