Meeting again
although not in the flesh
still face to face
thanks to the internet
it seems that after half a century
we both can laugh about the way
our lives came out
the unexpected interests we shared
Central America - who would have guessed!
and how your father
noted Plato scholar
may have studied with my great-uncle
at Robert's College outside Istanbul
nearly a century ago
then there were things
I had no memory of
but you remembered clearly
coming to see us up in Humboldt County
the year my wife was pregnant with our son
who just now had his 47th birthday
what I remember is your generosity
lending me your car when I was desperate
to get out of the city
and how I drove from Berkeley
south to the Tassahara zendo
tucked in the hill country east of Carmel
where Shunryu Suzuki also known
to some as Crooked Cucumber
was building a stone wall with a few others
he waved for me to join them
but I jealous
of my solitude declined the invitation
and missed my best
perhaps my only chance
for enlightenment
in those days so much gold
slipped through my fingers
not least of all the friendship
that we might have had
you and I brought together
by our mutual friend
that brilliant and troubled soul
who's now gone on ahead of us
to whom you faithfully
kept reaching out
kept calling
even to the end