Passing the pen

Passing the pen

         for Sarah and John

Here where the learner runs past the learned
and art becomes renewed in punctuated syllables,
we watch as prayers unfold
awaiting answers.

We want to stay,
to be touched by that final act,
that last oration; but,

this is enough:
to have been witness to one scene,
to have been invited,
with due discretion deemed
worthy
of one line.

Here where the redbud blooms
six months removed
and two thousand miles between
that then,
this now,

we watch the learner grasp the proffered pen,
run past the learned,
past us all.

© 2008 Kåre Enga [165.351] (2008-11-22)

21 lines

Original in "Passing the pen"  I read this to Sarah Gridley just after I wrote it. Fortunately, I've been able to edit a bit as I need to get a copy to John by 7 tonight.

Sarah mentioned how she was John's teacher at Case Western in Ohio and how it was great to see a student no longer need the teacher. She also had lines about redbud in one poem and mentioned that one she was reading was a prayer. Somehow these disparate thoughts got woven in. In the final edit they may not still be there, but for now ... "