I’m going back to my hometown, Bismarck, North Dakota to hear the premiere of a piece I put together for the dedication of the G Ron Gilbreath Auditorium. This holds special meaning for me because it will be housed in Bismarck High School.
The work was composed together with my friends Daniel Bondaczuk and Amber Maxwell, and is a tribute to my dear friend, mentor and band director during the years I conducted the orchestra program at Bismarck High. His name is Gordon Knaak, and he and his family are held warmly in my heart.
In July, I go back once again to Bismarck to remember the life of a girl, who apart from my wife Pam, was my closest friend in high school. Her name is Greta Weisser and we played cello together growing up and never lost touch through the years.
This season of remembering fostered a poetic chord in me. I thought i would share it with my friends. It’s what i feel.
THE RESIDUE
Silver strands
wrinkled hands
a patch of thinning mane
in the mirror
a vision peers
at tracks
the years have framed
Warm moments spawn
fond reminisce
captured through the years
They temper well
the youthful scars
and adolescent fears
The world was what it was for me
I never thought to ask
or question in those carefree days
I thought would always last
But now the residue of grief
and emptiness I feel
aches for all whose damaged hearts
no human spackle heals
Blossom falls
on colored leaf
Ages payment comes
Once vibrant days
of living finds
a body soon undone.
Dreams and leaves then wind away
Lo soon they disappear
For now is not
what thought would be
in these ensuing years
Life has stamped it’s cruel mark
on all my childhood friends
But in the day
we had it made
We all were different then
It all was different then
The Human Wave 