Of Valediction's Silence, an Elegy

Thy name was neatly signed upon my book,
A name alone, no note, no grappling hook:
No eloquence to pull my willing ear,
No ’postrophe to bring the absent near.
What couldst thou say that thine eyes had not said?
A pen’s no better speaking in their stead.
My heart would kiss the dimples of thy smile
To steal, and give, a passing glory’s while.
My son, the present beauty is a gift,
And all our yesterdays a moment swift.
No time I sit with thee when thou art ten
Will, years and decades hence, be thus again.
Thou graduatest from this stage today
Unto a higher. New foundations lay;
Yet still, I watch thee toss the hula hoop
That spinning back returns to thee aswoop.
Thy hair that grew too long I pushed behind
Thine ear, and time for shears I said to mind.
O cruellest of all, I cannot justly
Account thee cruel, boy, however costly.
But mortal moments go, and mind’s recall
Cannot from Lethe’s water summon all.
Æternity hath God in man’s heart set,
But I will linger in this minute yet.

-Lue-Yee Tsang