There was a man of love and prudence call his name
A little boy confined within a great man’s frame,
This thoughtful man with winsome smile shed childish tears
A fretful child, one hoped had grown through fruitful years.
To live brief days alone with him, beyond the call
To seal his fate, while sure one is that love wins all
The path of gain as we define success somehow,
And see with clearer mind the truth for then and now.
So ponder how and reason questing why he lost,
A bitter start and fragile mind so temper tossed,
And rise to know he’d treat both foe and friend the same,
No thought to jest nor strength to test or carry blame.
Yet move at times with tenderest and gentle ways,
Though sure I was his life would end in lonely days
With all the wasted fragments scattered on the floor
And wisdom’s caution heed the call, strong will implore.
Useless harm to those we trust, yet who can measure
Why force the heart to bury deep valued treasure
Yet still I dream that fate endowed my simple mind
With clever ways that might I not have dealt in kind.
I loved him more than life itself for but brief time
Love could not grow nor win, in such unhealthy clime
Along the path he’d traveled far and traveled wide,
And luckless found he never knew the man inside.
Claire V. Bogdanos 