“Surrender”
I invited her to lunch
and a ride home after our swim.
“Well,” she said, with that twinkle in her eye.
“I’d rather we meet later for a drink and a smoke.”
My 80+ friend, this guardian angel
She’s gone.
What to do with the sadness and loss
Seeing it coming does not make it less.
Surrender.
To my images of memory
her tottering to the lanes
One day nearly blown over by the rain and the wind
Still swimming for life
(although this time did scare her)
Surrender.
To the laughter we shared
trading life’s moments of absurdity and love
Bodies, men, street signs
all taken lightly.
She would want me to surrender.
To heartache, then possibilities.
“Go on out there,” she’d say to my crazy ideas, “Go do it!”
I will.
Would you like to hear me reading my poem “Surrender?”
Click here for a downloadable spoken version
Here for a YouTube version with image
The Inner Path of Photography 