On Reading Christy Brown

Long may the harlequinade spin out if

it takes us away from the tumbrel

- Christy Brown

I thank you Christy Brown

although you do not know me,

I feel I will always know you or

at least that magical part of you

I find in the verses you kindly left

with your photo

inside the sleeve of a

book's jacket.

I thank you Christy Brown

although you do not know me,

I thank you for old Miss

Mahaffey's rainbow fall of silk;

and the colours of the four

winds and your patchwork bag

of magic and even Michael Joe's

crying as no child.

I thank you Christy Brown for

your snails and skylarks

and your music and, yes, I

come softly to your wake.

With my calm togetherness of

hands I break the rugged crust

of your friendly bread and

drink the winepress of your stars.

I thank you Christy Brown for

the gleam in your eyes.

In your small photo I see the

secret in your kind face.

Long and long may your

harlequinade spin out

and take us all from the dark

and into the place of song.

_______

gw2008,2011

from the collection Genteel Messages