A Tribute: To Ganel Gibbs Nee Johnson

In case you wonder why time is past and keep going by Since last we spoke again, it is my way to retain Some pride of memory, not crumbling the mind's eye Like old newspaper stained and littering the drain I would still read your news don,t get me wrong, I'm sure No history written now can blot that splendid brow That nurtured me and cure the heart waves on its shore Restlessly beating to the flow of what we did not know Each morning fresh I came to your school to help tame The brute in all the brats and me, we sang the rats That took cheese and all, flame our love for life's game Making a child that's contented so, a show of stats A better man, a better woman held by reins of our letter And figure in the dust of chalk, and your bright talk Of praise each while unfetter my heart's invisible teeter The sleeping genius that sparked and was embarked Away from dusty floor to earn the prize of something more And after all that circling we again return time dizzy Washed out and beyond restore from chalk dreams galore And you on the phone, a glee glints in wheezy memory Not this my heart to endure, not this on the gritty shore Still gold and fresh, and yet we with rasping breath Did not even rip the oar full way. Silence loves you more For all you gave than wet morns more than we forget.