lines for an old friend
when oswaldo juarez died
some of us did not know
he was in lima
a musician for musicians
and that music in his country
would never be the same
once he had touched it
with the soft chords of his guitar
everyone mattered to him
you felt what can be the word
dignified in his kindness
his son offered the eulogy
he quoted vallejos los heraldos negros
it was as if I had never known
the voice in those lines before
©John Knoepfle 2003
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2003.
