Can You Hear Me?

Dear Moon,

Do you remember the night,

When you were full and bright,

Your pull so strong,

How you made his heart alight.

Can you recall

My friend,

The serenade that was strummed,

How the ancestors hummed,

The strings he thumbed.

O, the things he’d do for you,

To hear those sacred words,

O’ the things he did for you,

Why, you could ask him to shave his head,

And he did.

Look at me—you said,

Come and see.

O’ how he Festered with adoration for you.

Cloaked in your spotlight.

But his soul was so far below,

And you so high.

But that is the past.

You are together now.

He ascended some years ago,

And I know he’s with you.

Cherish him, dear Moon.

And I shall continue to talk to you as if he can hear me.

O’ how I hope he can hear me.

In Loving Memory of Charlie

This poem is in honor of my dear friend who took his own life in 2021. Just before the pandemic shut everything down in the United States, he played Fester in our University’s 2020 Fall production of The Addam’s Family Musical. He was so dedicated to the role that he even agreed to shave his head for the part, and brought his own ukulele which he played on stage as he sang “The Moon and Me”, Fester’s love song to the moon. Charlie was one of those truly extraordinary souls that the world needs more of, but that too few stop to take the time to cherish as much as they should.

I’ll never forget the night he came to help me in the middle of the night when my car blew a tire. There were no street lamps on the two way road I was on, and it was drizzling rain so the jack kept sinking into the mud as I attempted to change the tire on my own. Then comes Charlie, in his big truck filled to the brim with multiple of our friends. Those headlights came towards me like an angel descending in my time of need. And then my angel promptly got his truck stuck in the ditch right behind my car. We ended up calling a tow truck. It was a miserable 2 1/2 hours that was made less miserable by the company of friends. He was a beautiful person, inside and out. And I will miss him everyday til the day I ascend too. But until that day, I’ll keep talking to the moon like he can hear me.