Ode to Will by Miranda Warburton Written in Rarotonga, Cook Islands February, 2003 Biting red hibiscus flower pounded to the ground by tropical rain; Fans of coconut fronds subdued, captured, and tossed by salty gusts; Droplets caught on the weather-worn wooden table wash away shared memories and food stains. Casuarina branches whip through the air with relief from strangling heat; White caps beyond the reef struggle to overcome gravity’s fearsome hold; White shell and coral beach cruelly scrubbed by stormy seas and mountain driven winds. Birds cry out as they catch another rain drunk insect; Gray slate steps mirror a gray slate sky; Melancholy and selfish sadness that my friend, who would have laughed with joy at the beauty of nature’s fierceness, is now gone. And shrouds of rain fall over the ocean. home