Dave King
In Memoriam
19 - 2013
I was too upset to do so when I heard that he had passed but I am now working on a poem in his memory. Meanwhile, here is one which I wrote about him not that long ago, I was unaware of his illness at that time but I had been really affected by a poem that he had written.
Shadows
There are many writers in cyberspace;
words flow like a proverbial, perpetual fountain
but one poet- soul, a wise one,
who weaves his words with skill and feeling, said
that the shadows racing over sand were
thoughts that the land is having. I marvelled
at what seemed to me a revelation
for I live amidst mountains and am often
found watching shadows as they cross, soft-hued,
quiet and tender, covering and changing
the landscape in their wake, from dark to light,
from light to dark and back to light again.
Now I imagine the land’s emotions:
the wind is its anger, the sun is its
benevolence, the breeze a tease, the snow
its strong urge to hibernate and always,
always I shall see the rain as its tears.
From a penumbra in the poet’s mind,
something ghostly, insubstantial, half-glimpsed
and half-hidden, just an inkling of an idea
became pure poetry,transformed itself
and flew on a journey to me, through space,
reaching my mountainous place from the sea
inspiring me, from those thought-shadows in the sand.
Cait O’Connor
I shall think of Dave now whenever I see the passing of shadows; God rest him.
The poem below, Meeting the Dreamer is just one of Dave King's poems, I shall post more of my favourites written by him soon. His talent was amazing, every poem he wrote was 'different' but still carried his own unique voice.
Meeting the Dreamer
They call me the dreamer, he said,
I having asked him who he was
who'd burst upon my idle time above the tide line,
lost among the marram grass and sand dunes,
watching the sea-whipped waves play in the bay.
Strange boy: man's body, girlish face that now
and then would greatly age and then be young again;
and covered head to toe in moths and dragon flies
that when the face changed would fly off
to form a cloud that followed him -- or was it her?
No answer ever came in all the years we met.
Why do they call you that? I asked.
That's not high science, sir, he said.
Because I dream! I am the one
that has dreamed you and put you in
this dream time and dream place. I gave you
what you're pleased to call your life.
I thought about this deeply for a moment as I watched
the moths and dragonflies dance lightly on the waves.
Then: I'm just a figment in your dream?
I asked. He nodded his assent. And yet, he said, We were great friends before I dreamed you here.
Dave King
http://picsandpoems.blogspot.co.uk/
I am sure that Dave is at peace now, having moved on ahead of us, and that he is still dreaming and creating somewhere,
I having asked him who he was
who'd burst upon my idle time above the tide line,
lost among the marram grass and sand dunes,
watching the sea-whipped waves play in the bay.
Strange boy: man's body, girlish face that now
and then would greatly age and then be young again;
and covered head to toe in moths and dragon flies
that when the face changed would fly off
to form a cloud that followed him -- or was it her?
No answer ever came in all the years we met.
Why do they call you that? I asked.
That's not high science, sir, he said.
Because I dream! I am the one
that has dreamed you and put you in
this dream time and dream place. I gave you
what you're pleased to call your life.
I thought about this deeply for a moment as I watched
the moths and dragonflies dance lightly on the waves.
Then: I'm just a figment in your dream?
I asked. He nodded his assent. And yet, he said, We were great friends before I dreamed you here.
Dave King
I love your tribute to Dave; he was indeed a wise soul, and a kind one, though I had not known him long. Your poem captures beautifully his way with words and the effect that one writer can have upon another, in beautiful language.Thanks for sharing his "Meeting the Dreamer". It is wonderful, too.
ReplyDeleteI love "meeting" a new poet. Thank you for the introduction, even though it comes from a sad reason.
ReplyDeleteDear Cait,
ReplyDeleteI loved your poem for Dave.
So thoughtful and beautifully wrought.
Yes, so terribly sad that he will delight us with no more poems.
I had followed his blog off and on for many years.
I do do wish his family would make a poem book. It would be wonderful.
Wonderful.
ReplyDelete=)
Very Wordsworthian poem well keeping David King's flame alive.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the breeze a tease...
All my best,
Davide ( Tommaso)
I'm so sad to know this. A lovely tribute to a gentle man.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I will look at shadows the same way now.
ReplyDelete