The Song, ‘Suzanne’

Because I’d never heard it before, though you knew it at once.

Because we were sitting together in a dimly-lit café in Sanur.

Because it was clandestine, and longed-for, and finally happening.

Because the air was warm and fragrant and the place empty but for us

(because it was back in the seventies, the tourist boom only beginning).

Because it was Neil Diamond singing, and his voice was golden.

Because later you gave me Leonard Cohen’s poems and his two novels.

Because the song was so romantic, and being in Bali was so romantic.

Because when we did, our loving in the lamplight was beautiful, magic.

Because you told me in tones of wonder, ‘So strange. I’m in love with you, 

and I’m not in love with you’ and I replied, ‘Well, I hope you’re 

in love with me and not in love with me,’ and you said fervently, ‘I am!’

Because I couldn’t find any past-life karma between us, which meant 

to me you were simply a gift from Heaven, out of the sheer blue sky.

Because although we couldn’t be forever, I could fault you for nothing.

Because you went on to be happy, and I went on to be richly fulfilled.

Because when I wrote my most famous erotic poem I was craving you.

Because of that deserted beach we walked, meeting two naked hippies.

Because the smoke from your joint made curlicues up the walls.

Because you loved literature and music and art and trees and the sea.

And because it’s a truly, uniquely, brilliantly evocative song, let’s face it.

For all these reasons and more, the song ‘Suzanne’ still turns me inside-out.

The NaPoWriMo prompt for today was to write an anaphoric poem, starting every line with the same word. The Poem A Day prompt was to write an ekphrastic poem, inspired by a particular work of art of one's choice. (We usually think of ekphrastics as being inspired by paintings, but any other art form may be used, including a piece of music.)