for Lucille Clifton, 1936-2010
The moon
reappeared last night as though
nothing had happened
and in the
morning I played Mozart because she loved
fancy
music as well as jazz.
When we
are tired of forgiving, we can think about
the
vivacious differences
she showed
us – that from the heart of darkness
someone is
always named Light.
Today
let’s eat hotdogs and drink coffee in her name
so under
each obliging moon
a
simplicity of language, the grandeur of messages
like
Mozart will go on.