My friend, Gary Crew, just retired from his job as a children’s librarian at the Leon County Public Library here in Tallahassee.
Recently, something big came to an end for me too. The “neighborhood series” that started with “Crossing Jordan”is now complete with a sixth book, “Some Kind of Magic.”
I went to Gary’s retirement party, and he wrote a farewell poem for my series–a sonnet!
I often visit Jemmie, Cass, and Ben,
And Justin, Anna, Cody, Nana Grace…
I am quite happy when I’ve come again;
This really is the warmest, real-est place…
These children with their problems and their fears
With which they, like us all, must somehow cope,
Are porducts of such love and thought and tears,
I know inside my heart they won’t lose hope…
These characters from your imagination
Are real to me, and never will be gone…
While books exist, these folks of your creation
Eternally will live lives of their own.
So thank you, Adrian; your series ends,
But you have left me many lifelong friends…