The sound of lavender

A blind friend of mine loved the color lavender, remembered from his youth.

The sound of lavender

Lavender
was his favorite color

and the color of his bedroom
he could not see

since he went blind at twenty,
fifty years ago.

Once he played the saxophone,
played piano too,

and bowled.
Bowled great, they say, the day he died

alone.
It was days before they found him.

We buried him in November,
sent him home.

Who now plays his saxophone?
Do the notes spill forth in lavender?


© Kåre Enga

Catalogue number: [160.633]


Don Brown lived at Genesee Street and Kane in Buffalo, NY, in a brown house with a lavender bedroom. He died around October 31st, 2000 (?) He was a very dear man. I read this in Tahlequah once accompanied by a harp played by Michelle Bither. It seemed fitting, even if it was emotionally hard for me to read.