When those accustomed to sidestepping
my languid shadow’s silhouette, find it missing
from their corner vision slipstream, let them whisper:
‘fare ye well - old friend
may the breeze, be gentle
where you dwell’.
Just once, without weighty hesitation
and their solemn faces decorated
by a tugging wink - of a smirking lip
as-if, in quirky jest
or steadfast refusal to surrender
to a gravelly throat’s: stuttering tremor.
A-far-to-early and dramatically - inked testimony
for a grateful heart’s scaffolding companions
immortalising, their heroic deeds of firefighting
my lifetime of scorched landmarks
to cultivate a Phoenix’s ambition: for a harvest
of skyscraper dreams.
Gratefully, I now bequeath these smudged letters
of a parting’s serenade
whistling my tune, to a deathless wind:
‘fare ye well - loyal friends
till our eternally bonded masts
sail again’.
© L. B. Mek
December 2019