Don't wait for its light to come to you!
Breathe in its light -
Now!
As if it were your own.

I had walked miles that day.
Finding myself in these old
Los Angeles side streets,
was to travel back in time.

Bougainvillea, overflowing
with color, festooned the
weathered cedar cottages.
Heavy trumpet flowers,
sleepy in the filtered light,
stirred beside huge green
leaves, in the easy marine air.
I walked on.  

Evening had come, and with it,
a few stars shone over the ocean.

After a perfect dinner, I still
craved a bit of sweetness
on my tongue.

Walking back from the end
of the pier under deep
cobalt, the night sky held me.

Just ahead, tiny birthday candles,  
and warm, kind faces, welcomed
me into their midst.

Softly, they sang 'Las Mañanitas'
in one voice, and I sang with them.

Someone's hand
reached out to me; a
thin paper cake plate,
heavy with treasure,
was silently offered.

Tres Leches, soaked
with tender love
and milky sweetness.

Heaven could only be
more of this.

Way before people in human form,
we existed as air and light.

Lavender lights in the northern regions
called to each other, and we responded freely.

Sound sounded differently then, reaching
inside our airy souls, overarching temporal existence.

Dancing through infinite space, leaping beyond knowing,
we became pure unfettered feeling.

Come across the threshold of light, riding on your smile.
All that was then, is still our ancient home.

Seven generations Roman,
and one hundred percent male.

That voice, like thunder and wind over Lazio,
and a smile that could melt your kneecaps.

Surging with life, laughing, singing,
telling stories from his naughty boyhood,
here on the cobbled streets that he loved so well.

Fiercely loyal, a truer friend could never be found.

When he sang 'Vivrò!' smacking his old guitar just once,
and then roaring into song,
he did live forever, right there and then.

We live on, caro Bambù, transfused
by your vibrant, unforgettable memory.