To A.A.B.

known since school

In a roundabout house on the Plain I got to know you.
You had a happy knack of being at home
wherever J.S.Bach (God) might bestow you . . .
you wrote your scores.
I a bespectacled gnome
pedalling down the dusty ways of knowledge
heard these notes of being. I could not pretend
ever to match that tune, your spirit’s courage . . .
though taller now, and glad to be your friend.