When you think of me, and you will,

Be kind. I am a man of flaws you knew

So very well, and yet, the man you knew

Had his virtues, too, and those, in turn, had their way

Of saving you on rainy days when the world seemed flat

And iron gray.

I was no one’s hero.

Save the hero for the fairy tale and let him

Be knightly, bold and true

I was as much the coward as the saint, something no one

Ever saw like you.

But you forgave me, your heart was blessed

With that regard for the dents in men, and I laugh to think

How I proved that true; more than once, my loving friend 

Surely in some lofty hall

Where statues mounted in their clay

Proclaim the best of human life you will find

Your visage there some day

And those who come to reverence, awed, will not believe

You were long ignored. But such is the beauty of quiet you:

The more I was lost, the more you knew

08/08/2003

Posted on 08/25/2003
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch