You have been evoked so often
like some relative in office
whom we have heard of by name
all these years but have never met

you inhabit a kind of fame
a void without time or senses
beyond anything said of you
so that doubtless you do not hear
the recurring inadequate
references to you that rise
from another age rehearsing
wrong images or none at all

and whenever you may arrive
at last for a visit you come
in pure innocence and too late
to be recognized once you are
here sudden drop in the dials
in the light or the affections
windfall or surprise legacy