Patrick Bouie of Cabrini Green
By Gwendolyn Brooks
What is devout is never to forget.
Never to shelve the value and the beauty.
Patrick.
Vivid. Valid. Lyrical.
We cannot reach,
We cannot touch.
The radiant richness that was Patrick
Cannot be reached again, cannot be hugged.
Cannot be visited.
What is devout is never to forget
that he was with us for a little while.
Our splendor.
Our creative spirit.
Our sparkling contribution. Our
flash of Influence interrupted.
Our Interrupted Man.
—from “SEASONS: A Gwendolyn Brooks Experience”