A Bon Vivant Poem by Lynn W. Petty

A Bon Vivant


In one's lifetime, one meets another whose meeting
Leaves such an impression, the reward of that meeting lasts
For the remainder of one's life.
With the fondest of recollections, and the deepest of remembrances, I met such a person, 'A Bon Vivant', born of this century, but not of this age.
A man of the old school, whose movements and words are gestures
Of chivalry and gentility; a grace of gallantry of an era gone by. He is one of those calm, undemonstrative men, whom we love and admire, without asking for a reason why.
He is a poet, who has not written poetry, but who has acted it.
He is a man of the Shakespearean stage, whose career was interrupted by World War II.
Not to be deterred, his mind grew, his judgment deepened,
His artistic sense honed itself to a sharper edge.
Leaving the theater for higher achievements, he turned to molding molten minds of youth, sculpting them with the wisdom of old writers and times.
He brought them to a height beyond themselves.
He opened vistas of imagination through the introduction of past lore.
He left in the subsoil of their thinking an appreciation of the arts, nourished in the depths Of their subconscious, to bloom into flower fields of past legends and traditions.
There is a greatness that surrounds this man, a nobility of thought and purpose.
As children reach their appreciative state of adulthood, they will realize a perfect soul has Left its seal upon their Thoughts, sentiments and persuasions.


By: Lynn W. Petty