Last Note, First Note

I wish I had spoken to the young man

I wish I had acknowledged his grief

But my tongue stuck in my hollow mouth

His mentor had died that day

Leaving music unfinished, his song

His last note, creating a void

Like we all do, with our

Song never finished.

Much later, the ripe moment long past

I heard the words I wanted to say

If I had let my heart sing

I would have said

His music lives on in you

His last note

Can be your first note

For you contain

Within your body

The fire he flared in you

I know, I heard the flame

Crackling in your voice.

Play like Nero and make the world burn

The swirling ashes dancing the firestorm’s joy

His among them now and someday yours

As you leave a last note

Someone else’s first note.

-Kirk Ridgeway, May 1993

Pleasanton Poet Laureate 2002-04

US Navy Commander; Physical Therapist

Beloved Husband, Father, Brother, Friend