sussex and major

on a recent trip to toronto

i was able to visit a home

that i spent the daytime portion

of a summer

helping to renovate.

it was 1974.

inside the home

lived a couple

who became iconic

in my own mythology

as paragons of the sort

of people

and the quality of relationship

i hoped one day

to experience myself.

this visit

marked twenty years

or more

since i had last seen them.

grandparents now.

the essence of their

individual

and combined selves

still as bright

and colourful

as the stained glass

in the window

of their book-jammed living room.

i told them of the memories

i could conjure up

from that magic summer.

my favourite

memory comes from

one day at lunch

when i put on a record

- elvin jones "genesis" -

a gorgeous album of blues-inflected jazz.

i played it loud enough

that a little group

of beautiful people

stopped out on the street

to dance to it.

that little experience

spoke to me

of so much

of what i wished

- and still wish -

for this world.