Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends

50th Reunion Poem by Henry Sussman ’68

Henry Sussman ’68 was inspired to write the following poem after attending the Class of 1968's 50^th Reunion.

It was
the jovial
cardiologist
healer, count
less broken
hearts & vesicles—
got it right
& in the stroke, a hand
shake: “You may mis
take the body
or the face,
but no sooner
the voice enunciates—
you’ve got the per
son, the old soul—all
present &
accounted.”

Spasm
of the peri
cardium, downward
tug of Time, down
the cave of the chest
into the abdomen, yes,
this is what Time is:
Passages, taking in
more in an instant
than could ever
be tabulated;
still no bow
ing back, no
eddies to that flow.
Loss—is all that Time re
gains, heart-
subduing loss: what moments,
smiles, moods, places,
savors, bodies, touch
memory still reaches, loss
within the over
bearing tapestry,
memory-
traces.

On the far
shore of the psy
clone--out
stretched hand, de
liverance, sur
vival, we
who had
persisted,
together apart
outlived,
somehow out
smarted lass
itude, insouciance
burnout, utter
rage.

We were
there--we came
cuddling
together, shoal
of survival, how
ever we managed—
business
was on
living.

Welcome—
to the taught
pavilions
of reminiscence.
Casually
distributed
among tables,
we decanted
old narrative
bottled up vin
tage, essential, un
containable, to
gether
one more
Time.