The Leopard

                                       In memory, Allen Cohen

Then I saw a leopard,in the park's open space
where I allowed myself to cry openly,
in memory of you. And I knew this was
your appropriate disguise because I was

able to read in the leopard's recognizant eyes
what it was like to be dressed in such a
dense diagram of targets after suitably assuming
your suffering and your wisdom. So this

was your coat-of-arms: a feline beast, by whose
inward, focused tread alone your friends
might guess your true and former name. And you
seemed to nod at me, in that leopard-like

way of yours, then to take my memory in stride.

© Carl Weiner May 2004

Carl Wiener completed his BA at Reed College in 1973 and later an MA at San Francisco State University. He enjoys travel, photography, reading, writing, walking and listening to music. He speaks several languages with varying degrees of fluency. He is considered one of San Francisco's finest poets and has lived here for over thirty years.

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