In memory of

There was a memorial gathering
for a highschool dean who died
at almost a hundred.

The audience, ladies mostly
way over middle age
mused over memorabilia,
and praises and bios,
a choral,
a piano and strings
concerto.

Teen age ugliness,
caught in turn of the century
fading photos,
a dignified forty,
rulling with a strong hand
during my time,
at ninety
two wings of white hair
frame her face,
a compassionate smile
lights her eyes,
and she shines,
as if
the stream of time
sanded the body paint,
and let the soul come through.

Even her alliterative name
Koralia Krocodilou
has backbone.