Happy Birthday Mark. A rereading of SIX WORDS

This is a rereading of a poem I wrote back in early August. It was intended as a tribute to one of the finest wordsmiths it's ever been my honor to know. It began with me seeing something he posted that began, "Let me tell you a story." It struck me so profoundly, that we've been good friends ever since. I'm very lucky to be able to say that. As it's his birthday today, I just want to wish him a very happy one. May all your wishes come true.

Six Words

He poised his pen, 
Centered his thoughts,
And then began with an alacrity,
Not afforded most.
His stanzas dipped and dived,
His words looped and whirled,
Harmonized and danced,
With a rhythm, a power, a cadence.
Phrases flowed in a powerful seduction,
An enticing entanglement.
Able to woo and win at will,
Offering a mixture of passionate prose,
Or oft' times a poetical promise,
Few could not succumb to.
Emotions long buried in both,
The writer and the reader were born anew.
He'd needed to tell a tale,
And indeed he had, but so much more.
Enjoined to come along,
We followed happily.
A finer pied piper of poetry,
Most had never had the delight,
In meandering with for any length of time.
Six words that would forever change worlds.
For such was the beauty of those words,
That none who read him,
Remained quite the same afterwards.
Let him tell you a story...

- Tamara McLanahan

Copyright 2016 Tamara McLanahan. All rights reserved.