Conceiving your absence in this world
Is impossible, your death notified
Through Google alerts a surreal version
Of past telegrams written in black. Stop.

Our encounter a decade ago a dreamy memory
I always looked back with a smile, of tenderness,
Your virile deportment, your elegant attire,
Your red tie, the passion of your values, the strength

With which you fought your battles, to sustain
Your ideals, biting your cuticles to blood
Uncomprehending the voluntary obliviousness of most
Around you, to matters of urgent importance, to you,

Nature preservation, the white edelweiss in my book,
You sought to restore rivers allowing them to flow
Amidst human interests avowing sustainability,
It was possible to care whilst still make a living.

You gave me strength inspiring me to marvel
Taught me to raise my head and look up,
Sighting every detail one usually ignores
Walking steadily gazing merely to the fore. You awed,

Like a child who never saw anything before.
I admired you, your uniqueness, acquiescing
The loneliness pertaining solely to those
Who are one of a kind and do not find

Anyone else like themselves.

If I could have or would have known,
I would have given you my lungs for you to breathe
A little more, offer this world another piece of you
For you did not seem to mind, self-setting a mission

To leave this world in better shape
Than when you first arrived.

Conceiving your absence is impossible,
Yet I feel deeply honoured and forever grateful
To have had the privilege of our encounter
Shielding this dreamy memory from time

And mortality.

[Featured photo: Stella Alpina, Gran Sasso, Abruzzo]