! ! To A Much Loved Poet Comments

This is lovely Michael, I am assuming that this is about Mary Wismer, as it fits her character very well indeed. A treasure to read, on so sad an occasion as this. Love and hugs Ernestine XXX

As Adria said below, being alone WITH someone is far worse than being alone BY MYSELF....and even as Denis Joe said, even if we don't know the WHY of this one, we can surely understand the meaning! Wonderful writing.

This is great Mike. I am missing something here, I am sure, but my ignorance of the theme makes this more delightful to read. Breaking the three quitains with a quatrain (I'm sure there is a word for this, but I can't recall it) is great and gives the poem the feel of a sonnet with the quatrain acting as the turning point (golden bough) . The language is truly romantic in the old sense of the word. There is noescaping the humanity in the poem and even the emotion. Does the first line of the last stanza require a dash or a comma after 'perhaps.. '?