I love responsive poetry...poetry that is written, inspired by a recent event, perhaps even partly, by my blog article wishing Adolfo Happy Birthday recently... If you haven't already read it, click over now and come back!
As I read this latest poem from Adolfo, since he starts with his first birthday party when he was 14, it started me to wonder what my friend might have looked like in his early years. So with Google's help, this is my mind's images for him...although the one at 14 was the only one about the right age and is not what I would have chosen...hope the pics engenders a bit of fun!
A Birthday: for me!
As I read this latest poem from Adolfo, since he starts with his first birthday party when he was 14, it started me to wonder what my friend might have looked like in his early years. So with Google's help, this is my mind's images for him...although the one at 14 was the only one about the right age and is not what I would have chosen...hope the pics engenders a bit of fun!
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And then he was 14...solemn for his school picture...
A Birthday: for me!
By Adolfo (Al) Adolph Caso
Though fourteen,
And,
Much to my surprise,
New relatives and friends
Celebrated
The first Birthday in my life;
Thus giving value to Little Al.
Yet, I was the same person
As the day before,
One who hardly spoke English,
Who spoke a dialect no one understood.
And, yes,
My father named me Adolfo,
After Sant’Adolfo--
“No, No! I was named after Adolphe Menjou,”
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| Sant 'Adolfo di Osnabruck |
I objected, knowing better in either format.
There was only one man with that name,
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| Adolphe Menjou |
And it was Hitler’s—a real devil;
While he bears the name of a Saint,
I live with that name every minute of my life,
Happy to know:
Every human being is basically good.
No wonder my American friends called me Al.
All of us evolve according to a plan
That reveals itself as we become what we are;
And,
Regardless of whether we are men or women,
We can only comply with a single destiny:
On one hand,
Hitler was the worst example next to the devil;
On the other,
An infinite number of human beings
Regenerate themselves,
Every single one for the good of all.
On calling me Al,
My friends gave me a passport to: We, the people,
(As explained by Dr. King)
To a place in time wherein we develop from within
And not from frameworks
Of some saint, or, worse: the devil himself.
Now, more than ever,
With the celebration of my eighty-fourth,
I have become better aware
Of having fulfilled the attributes
Which have shaped me
Into the A D O L F O
That I am,
For whom
I proudly make this claim.
*
English Translation
What a wonderful thing a sunny day
The serene air after a thunderstorm
The fresh air, and a party is already going on…
What a wonderful thing a sunny day.
What a wonderful thing a sunny day
The serene air after a thunderstorm
The fresh air, and a party is already going on…
What a wonderful thing a sunny day.
But another sun,
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s in your face!
It’s in your face!
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s in your face!
It’s in your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I start feeling blue;
I’d stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
I start feeling blue;
I’d stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
But another sun,
that’s brighter still
It’s my own sun
that’s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
It’s in your face!
It’s in your face!
May each day continue to fulfill your destiny as Adolfo Caso, poet, photographer, author, publisher...and friend...
