To Astrud

A voice that still haunts me
and lives in my dreams
The first time I saw her
a boy of sixteen

She lived just a mile
from where I am now
A treasure so hidden
to whose memory I bow

The Samba and Rio
she took me along
Yet barely a man
making love to her song

My eyes can still close
and return to that beach
where my heart she first captured
—and never released

(The Day Astrud Gilberto Died: June 5, 2023)