Just when I met most persons whom I know
is lost in unremembered time and place,
a chance encounter or a daily flow
alike the first time gone without a trace.

For just a few initial contacts burn,
igniting personal eternal flames,
the lights though dimmed that ever will return
and flare to hear both blamed and blameless names.

How blessed if I should meet a mirror mate
who understood the achings of my heart,
who needed understanding to create,
who felt my joy that others shared our art.

Let me while wasted words distress confess,
accept that one wants more the other less.
-Robert Stone, 29 May 2010