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Im still lamenting the death of Jim Harrison.  Here’s my favorite poem of his.  It could easily be a testament.  Losing him was like losing a brother.

 

Bridge by Jim Harrison

 

Most of my life was spent

building a bridge out over the sea

though the sea was too wide.

I’m proud of the bridge

hanging in the pure sea air. Machado

came for a visit and we sat on the

end of the bridge, which was his idea.

 

Now that I’m old the work goes slowly.

Even nearer death, I like it out here

high above the sea bundled

up for the arctic storms of late fall,

the resounding crash and moan of the sea,

the hundred-foot depth of the green troughs.

Sometimes the sea roars and howls like

the animal it is, a continent wide and alive.

What beauty in this darkest music

over which you can hear the lightest music of human

behavior, the tender connection between men and galaxies.

 

So I sit on the edge, wagging my feet above

the abyss. Tonight the moon will be in my lap.

this is my job, to study the universe

from my bridge. I have the sky, the sea, the

faint green streak of Canadian forest on the far shore.