Rod McKuen

Preludes & Fugues
I was introduced to the poetry of Rod McKuen in 1968. I purchased the book "Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows" but from 1968 to 1985 the book was misplaced or lost in moving from one love affair to the next. Two years ago I found a first edition in a dusty used book shop in Dunedin New Zealand. It was like discovering a dear friend that you have totally lost track of over years and years of traveling through life's adventures. I try to read a poem every night before I retire for dream land and last night I read the entire Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows.
"SOME THOUGHTS FOR BENSON GREEN ON HIS TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY" is one of my favorites of McKuen.

"I know
that love is worth the time it takes to find.
Think of that when all the world seems made of walk-up rooms
and hands in empty pockets.
I know your smile
and it is much too warm to waste on people in the street
(though smiles are plentiful)
and
I know
that if you keep the empty heart alive a little longer
love will come.
It always does,
maybe just at the last moment, but it will come
YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT
or else there isn't any reason to be twenty seven."

I remember being 27 and I remember desperately hoping to find love...
At 37 I did find love and that love has endured for 21 years.
Thank you Rod for giving me a belief in love when I was 27!
(BTW, I still fall in love with a face, body, sound or scent at least once every few days. God, it makes life so enchanting!)