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What a moving tribute to obviously a well-adored teacher and writer. Thank you for opening your soul and sharing this with us!

Thank you for reading :)

You can tell a lot about a man from the books he keeps in his study. I think this piece is a great farewell to your teacher, though I know you must miss him. Sometimes, people just take hold of our hearts and we may not realize just how much of a grip they have until they are gone.

Thank you. And thank you for reading.

Pain is ours to use as we scribe beautiful pieces like this. Poetry is our therapy as we heal. All is well :)

Thank you for reading :)

I am very moved by this piece. I love how you only need a few details, objects to project a personality. That's pure poetry right there. I'm amazed by the dignity of this poem. You can feel the silence of when there is nothing left to say. Very sorry to hear about your loss.

I'm glad you felt that. Thanks for your comments and for reading.

A beautiful and poignant piece. The scene and the memory were captured well.

Thank you.

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I'm honoured. Thank you.

This is beautiful. Very, very beautiful. A most fitting tribute.
I have similar feelings now, as I clean out my parents' home, after their passing.
But your poem, of bittersweet love and remembrance, helps... thank you

Thank you for reading and you lovely comments. I'm glad it spoke to you in the way it did.

Full of great personal touches. This phrasing stuck out to me for some reason:

Still, we needed more –
each tome and folder
expanded as we packed.

As if the life contained within his personal effects refuses to be packed away neatly. Resisting, they expand beyond simple materiality to conjure up memories, and have a personality of their own. And of course, the weight of their loss weighs heavy in both a literal and emotional sense.

I work in a 2nd hand bookshop and we often get donations such as these; boxes full of incredible old books and long forgotten manuscripts. It can be incredibly sad in a way, unpacking these things and getting a glimpse - through the books this person cherished - of what kind of person they were.

Wonderful tribute, and a great poem to boot. Thanks for letting us read it.

Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Alistair died during the Easter break while I was a Ruskin College, Oxford. He was a kind, gifted teacher.

As always, thank you for reading.

Such a touching way to remember a writing who influenced your work. Sorry for your loss. I know it was years ago but you don't just forget that kind of person.

Indeed, you don't. It's strange to think that a lot of what I'm doing on steemit and Discord is about helping people progress their work in the same way. He'd have liked that for sure.

Thanks for reading.

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