for Eduardo Rey Brummel, on Earth Day
I walk on the long dirt road
with fat bumblebees
and dark red rocks,
not to distract myself
from you in your death room,
but to bring you with me
into this miraculous day
with it wild iris just beginning
to push through the earth
like curious green tongues
and its patch of buttercups
blooming right through me
all waxy and yellow and bright.
Far away, your heart is erratic
and your breath is slowing.
Far away you are becoming
less flesh and more mystery,
less the man who wrote
uplifting quotes on the lunch board
and more whatever it is
that drives the willows to blush,
whatever it is that causes the crows
to caw, then hush, then caw again.
You who called me Hermana,
you showed me how to be more kind,
and now you grow within me,
an essential part of my biome.
What gift more precious
do we have to offer than kindness?
I don’t know how it happens,
but the day is more beautiful
because I carry you with me—
even the thorns seem
to call for my honest attention,
even the leafless oaks,
even the dry stream bed
waiting for rain.
Dear friends,
If you know my friend Eduardo and did not yet know about his stroke and his recent blood infection, I know this is not easy news to receive. He responded to almost all of my poems here on this blog with such thoughtfulness and support. One of the most kind, generous people I have ever met.
If you would like more information, you can find it on his caring bridge.
Rosemerry, A wondroue poem to Eduardo!
now you grow within me likely always will be with you!
I don’t know how it happens,
but the day is more beautiful because I carry you with me!
I still miss his literate, insightful and illuminating comments(for me) on the blog! His love for you shone through on all of his words on the blog! I recall his last comment on who cares if showing of love is clumsy as long as helps us to soar!! I often think of this when I think of my loving being clumsy even obtuse!!!!
I have often intuited Eduardo had been wounded in his lifetime which made me sooo respect and admire him….. he transformed it and I know he will always grow within us!!
Swirling hugs & prayers to you my beloved poet!
j
Oh sweet friend, it’s true, he did not have an easy go of it. And yet he ever met the world with such love and generosity and kindness and thoughtfulness. He did indeed soar through love and perhaps always will. What a light being. Thank you for this beautiful note about him.
What a powerful tribute to Eduardo. I only know him through his touching responses to your wonderful poems and it breaks my heart to hear of his condition. You both make love tangible. I am grateful far beyond words.
Yes, such a beautiful man, always offering his generous support. He knew my poems better than I do! Could always quote me to myself and find ways that I wove images and ideas and feelings through the years … what a gift to me he has been with his lovingkindness and clarity
You are indeed his Hermana, and I hope your beautiful tribute and all the love it contains finds its way to him somehow.
I believe that a mutual friend is reading it to him today in person, and I am sharing it with him through the sky … I hope he feels the showering of love.
dearEd…. ah how I treasure this lovelylovinglovable man.
this poem of the glory of his life and current transition meets my heart in a similar way….
muchos besos ~ L
Ohhhhh our beautiful Eduardo … I have loved the exchanges between you two here …
I am deeply touched by your loving words for Eduardo. There will be many of us carrying him within our hearts this day. His essence will continue to be carried here and his verbal presence missed. much love to you Rosemerry, xoxox
Oh Janice, thank you for carrying him in your heart, too … with his kindness and gentleness and intuition he found his way into many hearts. such an example of how we make a difference so quietly sometimes … just by being our loving selves
I read this beautiful tribute on the same day I read “Mother” by Ted Kooser on A Year of Being Here https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/04/ted-kooser-mother.html, which resonates with this work in the observation of the natural world and the way someone touches our lives and changes us. I think your site is where I found Phyllis’s site and both have become an essential part of my morning practice.
We carry people with us, as both poems tell us, and we carry poetry, and are enriched by both. Thank you for this.
Oh isn’t her site just magnificent!? I still love visiting it after all these years! And I love that poem, too … yes, we carry poems and people … both. How intimately they become us.
Your poem is impressively detailed. I am drawn to items (so to speak) such as the bee and also “Hermana.” I’m sorry for the source of inspiration, this good person and good friend, Eduardo. I’m sorry for his stroke and subsequent infection. I’ll pray now for his healing, joining certainly the many prayers of others. Please take care, all.
Thank you, friend, for praying for dear Eduardo. And yes, it is the small things, isn’t it, that tether us to each other and this world.