To a Long-Lost Friend From High School

by

Philip Claude Andermann

Yes, in San Francisco now
with your latest Brazilian album "Flower of Bahia,"
you are "The Flower of the Bay."
In High School, we didn't speak that much
after all the Chemistry tutoring in the library.
But hearing you sing with the guitar
I knew then you could be a brilliant star,
even if humbler and more beautifully
dancing like a flower.
The words of your poems sang
inventing melodies by themselves.
Leader of the UN Club,
yours was the nature of the world,
expressing freedom
springing from this earth.
One had to be deaf not to hear
your heart sing.
You offered yourself
freely to so many
regardless of their nationality,
language or who they were
somehow knowing their language.
Everything flows back.
Music is the flower of culture
that transcends all languages.
Through it you can spring back up
even if you get crushed.
Because your heart is music
you remain as young now in heart
as ever.
Picasso said that a woman's body
is like a guitar,
to be played.
But you yourself play the heart of peace,
you transform the art,
the music of springs,
the seasons of nature
into eternity,
and through the storms with music
I see you remain
still the heartbeating
embodiment of Peace.