Poem written in or near Tbilisi, May 24th 2015

Aftermath The clamour of a thousand images Resonates, still, in my brain : Cityscape with niches and rushed Contingent traffic;

Context for an exploration and a re-inkingOf friendly boundariesSleep at last and still this dinOf unanswered questions and explorations;

Familiar, almost, and forever strange. A sunlit Sunday of quiet intimacy. Events emerge, shrill and unbidden From the pianissimo string passages of life :

Wagnerian horns in Rustaveli. Markings in the score Lennie Bernstein Would know to observe. And yet Traffic of the dead, no longer in this game And whispering in my ear.

Poignancy with hope and disillusion ever mixed From this bright May dayWith a fervent beating heartAnd yet in a positive sense I will sleep ; For it, I shall shed every tear.