daddy are you there ?
 daddy are you there ?
 You lived as a good and generous man
 93 ans
 in fidelity to yours who are dear to you
 93 ans
 of simplicity of modesty of silence even
 93 ans
 presence on our land
 reflection of an elsewhere much bigger than us
 93 ans
 and then nothing
 and then we
 was
 your children your grandchildren your great-grandchildren
 who form a microcosm in this grand universe
 a miniature world
 a world of beings in the making
 a world moving towards the future .

 daddy are you there
 ici 
 in our hearts
 in memory of a time spent together
 with lots of moments that come to the surface
 breaking away from a bygone past
 in elevation of an experience to bear fruit .

 tell daddy where you are now ?
 I remember that time when you went to work on your bicycle
 from Grenelle to the beautiful neighborhoods
 and what mom said
 that we would meet you
 and that even without talking to you
 even when you held back your emotions
 even when I was counting on my fingers
 additions and subtractions
 even when I was drawing a heart
 on the mist of the square in rue Saint Charles
 I was waiting for you .

 Daddy you are no longer of this world
 peace to you
 in this eternal place .
 And there will be a day
 where we too
 we will disappear
 and what will be said
 if we were great
 if we were hateful
 because everyone knows how babies are made
 but do we know how dads are made !
 To have restarted your sleepy being
 in my heart filled with light
 I exult in leniency and love
 in recognition of you
 my dad to me
 our dad to us your children
 prolonging by a simple detour to be alive today
 the obligation to continue our work
 not to be afraid to move forward on our path .
 Faire
 do well
 make or break
 let's not shrink the world
 to its vagaries and its suffering
 there are also wonderful things happening there
 and it would be criminal to trivialize these things
 let's get in touch with each other
 strengthen our ties
 collaborate celebrate gratify glorify beauty
 so that in this separation from you, Lucien, who brings us together today
 so that in the tragedy of death common to all of us
 remain in meditation
 remain silent
 remain in this moment of meditation
 stay in love  .


 165 

  Three small candles
 and what come back
 the testimony of hours spent in harmony
 the thrill of the depths of creation
 capturing the breath before it bursts forth
 the strength of a look behind the glass
 the subtle presence of eternal being
 the marquetry of extinct memories
 the bewildered perplexity of illusion
 the brilliance of a comet that never happened
 the apprehension of appearance
 the calm of repeated gestures
 the romance of old songs swapped
 the beyond of the forms awaiting their fulfillment
 the enchanting transcendence of the moment
 the calm in front of this being leaving towards the open
 the wound felt in contact with broken glass
 the sliding of fingers on fresh skin
 the tradition perpetuated by recognized objects
 constantly renewed experience
 the fluid sand of nomadic aridity
 the dense hatch of sedentary force
 the conquest of matter in light of being
 the transparency of the outpouring of the finished work
 the rising of the curtain in front of the sun
 the rise in consciousness towards the heart of the world
 the intimacy of being enshrined in law
 evidence of evidence accessible to the artist
 the blurring of events in the redemptive mist
 the restoration of our interior lands
 the long and humble work of clearing
 war against shadows
 the good man in his restorative instances
 the fresh complexion of our faces become wise again
 music in restrained asceticism
 beauty in grace of being universal .

 To be alive in wondering reverence for secrecy
 to remember the traces of humans
 to breathe in the only worthwhile reality
 the fine breath of good posture
 daily praise
 the contemplation of a simple colored stone.


 164 

 Of course he had courage
 that man
 to live long years with caution
 simplicity and modesty
 to steer his boat
 along the daily banks
 without having to ask where to go
 without seeing the time pass
 slowly progressing towards the estuary
 where the limits slip away
 where everything turns gray
 that the view darkens
 lack of air
 that the mind no longer responds
 but where does it go
 triumphant in his expectations
 the mystery
 this uncreated light
 this intense light coming from very high
 this gap
 habitée de vieilles âmes
 this frail skiff
 disappearing in the mists
 this high point
 merging with the horizon
 in remembrance of what comes and goes
 the space of a held breath
 in memory of what was
 traces of your name on the scarified trunk of the tree
 be assigned
 to transform this bittersweet writing
 in duty of conscience
 walking on the path
 understanding of what is
 crepe of the reopened wound
 an end of summer
 as a stare fails
 at low tide
 in him whose heart dwells in love.


 163 

 receive life
 like a gift
 as a present.

 Inhabit all ages of existence
 childhood
 the youth
 adulthood
 old age.

 Improve like good wine
 too young the wine is acidic
 maturing is the work of time.

 Don't be obsessed with body stigma
 traces of time passing
 the bitter wrinkle is only the kiss in continuity of being
 Dwell in life and in intelligence.

 Every day make discoveries
 intellectual affective sentimental
 Everyday be in the new
 Vivre.

 Do not look on the neighbor's plate
 don't be jealous
 stay in oneself
 at the window of wonder.

 Grow again and again.
 Aging is not being old
 to grow old is to go in life
 to be old is to lose the taste for life.
 
Be intellectually curious
 look at existence like a child without being an eternal child
 look at existence from the perspective of youth without being an eternal teenager.

 Always go further.

 The longer we live, the more we build this distance
 which allows you to be there
 while already being elsewhere.

 With a single gulp seize the dusting of things
 before the lamp goes out
 so that shores reached
 to dissolve
 the space of a smile
 with the blowing wind
 in the light of the coming day .


 162