Best of best wishes. Your spirit is indomitable and your poems - written in any circumstances, let alone these - remain wonderful.

"Hard to write light verse on chemo, but here goes. Tim"

Light verse? This (Grand Kahler’s "Economy Room") was almost unbearably light verse, Tim (in every way a good way). Light of the kind that keeps a person's soul afloat. Really beautifully articulated.

Although I don't know you personally and can only gather a glimpse of who you are through the reflection of support that others here provide, your poetry that I've read here chronicling your ordeal has been nothing short of emotional enlightenment.

Please take your pen with you everywhere you go...
x

Thanks again, all. I should make an important acknowledgment. Not only has Jenny Reeser agreed to be my literary executor, but Cathy Chandler has taken over as editor of Last Poems? I can still get my head around a big ode and anything else on down, but in my oxy fog, there is no way I can organize and sequence 190 pages. She has done just a magnificent job, and as the book grows she will continue to make it flow poem to poem, section to section. So I hope all my books have done, the three that Alan Sullivan edited and the many I have edited in the decade since I took over for a master editor. Cathy makes me see the book through an incredibly insightful second set of eyes, making connections I might have missed, and I am deeply grateful to her. Tim

Love surrounding you, Tim, with your fine poetic legacy, and may it always surround you, literally. So glad to hear of these beautiful connections, and I’m still praying for the miracle of more time to have you with us. Giving brings more giving. God bless.

Siham

What passes for prayer inside me is yours.

Tim has taken a turn for the worse--I know that he would appreciate your prayers.

Dear Friends,

Unfortunately, Tim fell yesterday at his home and broke his hip.



Mike is absolutely right. Your prayers are especially welcome at this time.

Thank you.


Cathy

Tim is off treatment & going into hospice.

This is as eloquently as I wish I could respond, so I reiterate this.

Oh dear. So terribly sorry to hear this, along with Cathy's news.

Thank you both for keeping us updated.

Be free of pain, Tim. You are surrounded by friends.

What Micheal said.

Tim, you and EfH will be remembered here and elsewhere for a long, long time.

You're very much on my mind, Tim. And your voice is never far from my poetry.

I'm so sorry to hear these updates. Thinking of you, Tim, and wishing you well. May you find peace and rest. Thanks, Mike and Cathy, for letting us know.

Nausheen

Tim, you have given a lot, to the Sphere and to poetry. No gift is in vain. You take with you only what you give away. May you go at peace.

Susan

Me too, Tim. I'm thinking of you out here in the West. I hope you or someone will let us know if there are ways for this community to be of help or comfort to you.

Love and prayers, Tim. Nobody else will ever master the short lyric and make it look so easy. You are in your poems and I cherish them.

Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?

So Sailors say—on yesterday—
Just as the dusk was brown
One little boat gave up its strife
And gurgled down and down.

So angels say—on yesterday—
Just as the dawn was red
One little boat—o'erspent with gales—
Retrimmed its masts—redecked its sails—
And shot—exultant on!

-- Emily

Tim,
Bless you, ...As if you weren't going through enough already!

Huge sympathy for this unexpected accident. There but for the grace of God go all of us... most accidents happen at home, and the older we get the more at-risk we become.

Rest and recover... as much as is possible... and I hope you draw great comfort from knowing you have so many caring friends all over the globe.

Jayne

Tim, it's morning here, and we've never met, but I am thinking of you today and wishing you many more years to bring your fine poems into the world.

Cheers,
John

More and more friends are here. You've touched so many people. Be in peace, Tim.

This is one of my favorite choral arrangements. So full of peace and joy!

I offer it here because the beautiful expressions of love and concern from the chorus of caring people in this thread constitute a sort of angel band, too. (We're not all singing the same tune, but that just makes the harmonies more resonant.)

Shawn Kirschner's arrangement of "Angel Band"
Melody by William Bradbury (1816-1868), words by Jefferson Hascall (1807-1887)

The latest sun is sinking fast,
.....my race is almost run.
My strongest trials now are past,
.....my triumph is begun.

O come, angel band.
Come and around me stand.
O bear me away on your snow-white wings
.....to my immortal home.

I know I'm near the holy ranks
.....of friends and kindred dear;
I've brushed the dew on on Jordan's banks.
.....The crossing must be near. Chorus

I've almost reached my heavenly home –
.....My spirit loudly sings.
The Holy Ones, behold, they come –
.....I hear the noise of wings. Chorus

Thanks for your work and for your friendship, Tim. Both have meant so much to this community of poets, and to me personally.

Love,
Julie

Dear Friends,

Tim's friend and hunting buddy, Steve, called me yesterday with an update, and messaged me again this morning.

Tim hopes to be able to return home on Saturday, once all of the hospice preparations are finalized.

He is in really good spirits, hoping to answer his many emails and messages soon, and is working as hard as ever on his latest manuscript (Steve brought him the files on a flash drive and Tim told him he was planning on working through the night).

Once he's back online, he'll be visiting the Sphere to read all of these lovely and loving messages, poems and songs.

Cathy

I am saying mantras for you, Tim.

Thinking of you, Tim. Love and prayers,
Gregory

As a queen sits down, knowing that a chair will be there,
Or a general raises his hand and is given the field-glasses . . .

May the road rise up to meet you, Tim.

You’re in a good place, with many good friends and admirers.

Pax Christi,

Andrew

Very best wishes, Tim. "Just keep on keeping on", as they say.

I'm still praying, Tim. May it be easy. Peace to you.

A fair wind, Tim, and a following sea.

Thinking of you, Tim, in your sore trouble. - Clive

Thank you, Tim, for your encouragement always.

Best wishes, Tim. I am thinking of you. —Martin

Dear Sphereans,

Just a short note to let you know I sent Tim an audio recording of all your messages posted since his May 26th visit to this site. In addition, I mentioned the names of everyone who sent a message since day one of this thread.

I wasn't sure when to phone Tim, due to the medications. His best friend and hunting buddy, Steve, and his wife visited Tim last night and played the audio for him. Here is what Steve had to say:

"We played him the audio file and he was joyous. We were in tears listening and watching Tim. You made his day. Thank you."

So, I'm passing on this message of joy and gratitude to all of you.

Cathy

Dear Tim, Thinking of you here in Greece, of your early support of me and so many other poets, and of your beautiful words and your friendship. I understand you've been writing lots and lots of new poems, and I look forward to reading them. You have made the most of your gift, which is itself a rare gift. Lots of love from Athens, Aliki

Dear Tim,

Fr. Oliver is praying for you, as am I.

May the Holy Spirit, to Whom you are so close, guide you home.

Much love,

Bill

Much peace and much love for you, Tim ... with thoughts and prayers for you.

...Alex

Tim, I don't know you well, but my thoughts are with you. Wishing you all the best.

Godspeed, Tim.

Nemo

You were so incredibly kind to me Tim as you were to many others. You have made the world a better place with your poetry and your being.

Jan

Beautifully put, Jan.

...And, in the words of the song, "And so say all of us," Tim!

Jayne