For You

(for Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958-2016)

did you hear a chord upon departing
that explained all

did you in that moment make a desperate grab
for your guitar but

(that being out of reach) did you then
change your mind and ask

for a moment or two more
to savor that ringing but

(that becoming impossible)
come then to a realization

that you yourself were the chord
being played

and so on you went with it
all the way through to the fade

and then
to the fade out