Christopher Carter died

In Honour of Christopher James Carter

 

I didn’t know your name
until I read the paper today
and saw your young, disfigured face
staring back from the obituary page.

But, Chrisopher Carter,

you were a hero to me
in your own way
daring to endure the public alarm
when people first saw you.

 it always made me proud of you

and proud of the friends who sat
with you at your favourite
downtown coffee haunt.

And, not knowing you

nor wanting to embarrass you
I never made the chance
to let you know how you enriched my life
by simply living yours with grace
while you appeared the way you did.

But one day, passing

on the street
our eyes met and we shared a knowing smile.
and it warms me to recall
with certainty
that you felt my admiration then;
my silent welcome to converse another day, another time.

Knowing how quickly you would be gone

perhaps I should have risked
a word when you sat one day
in the sun sipping coffee
reading a magazine.

Good bye, Christopher Carter.

Your beautiful and unblemished soul
will be missed here in Vernon.

Thank you for touching my life.

 

Beth McCarthy Marks

March 4, 2011