Tribute to Salvador Dali

Those who know me know I'm perhaps the world's most fervent Salvador Dali enthusiast (see my blog: www.meetingdali.blogspot.com). Shortly before the Spanish artist's death (on Jan. 23, 1989), I wrote this poem in tribute to the timeless genius of the Catalan Master:


Ode to Dali: The Fire Dimmed
By Paul Chimera

He retreats into a darkened world,
His body weak and drawn,
A once vital man of mystery,
The drama sadly gone.

Where's the Dali we once knew,
Whose antics made us smile,
Painter of dreams and limpid clocks,
Horizons that stretch for miles?

We weep before your Glasgow Christ,
Whose beauty means compassion,
We praise the sureness of your brush,
Which you guided with such passion.

What your paintings say to me,
No poet can convey,
What words could ever match the grace,
Of your landscapes by the bay.

So cruel the persistence of time can be,
To finally dim the fire,
How dark the shades of night descend,
How sadly they conspire.