Rybka/Reltne has passed away

[wildsweetone]

I have spent some very special time with a very special person and it is my saddest task to let you all know that last Tuesday (northern hemisphere time) Rybka passed away of natural causes in his sleep.

Rybka, my friend, my mentor, my sweet heart, I miss you more than I can ever say. Rest in peace lovely man.


Here is one of my favourite Rybka poems:

Pull Only The Weeds
by Rybka©


The best day ever
was one that never
ended

Time cannot sever
memories forever
tended ​

i will remember you.

 

[champagne1982]

I have spent some very special time with a very special person and it is my saddest task to let you all know that last Tuesday (northern hemisphere time) Rybka passed away of natural causes in his sleep.

Rybka, my friend, my mentor, my sweet heart, I miss you more than I can ever say. Rest in peace lovely man.


Here is one of my favourite Rybka poems:

Pull Only The Weeds
by Rybka©


The best day ever
was one that never
ended

Time cannot sever
memories forever
tended ​

i will remember you.

This is sorrowful news, WSO. I know you were close in the way that only an experienced poet mentor and student can be. He will be missed.

I'll be back to offer more condolence once I've had a chance to visit his poems and my thoughts on losing a wonderful poet, a fine gentleman and a true friend like he was.

 

[LeBroz]

.
.
.

This is really sad news. While I enjoy the way Reltne verse showed how to play with words, I especially liked the following Rybka creation as it shows how relaxed and comfortable he was with his words.



Apples Grow In New Hampshire
by Rybka ©

APPLES GROW IN NEW HAMPSHIRE




Apples grow in New Hampshire.
Wild they ripen, tame and feral
From summer sun to Christmas Carol,
But the fall scent
Of those allowed to overgrow
Perfumes the air
From bluebird flight to lasting snow.




Apples grown on orchard trees
Are picked and sold
And some are squeezed.




Apples wild in forest wood
Seldom bear
Much fruit that's good.




But apples on abandoned farms
Still drop fine fruit
In nature's arms.




Both mouse and bird do make full use
Of choicest flesh
And apple juice.
Deer and coon are sure to stop
At slightest cache
Of windfall drop.




And as I've gone along my way
More than once I've paused
To pray.




Meeting God
I just stand mute
And breath the scent
Of autumn's fruit.



​

.
.

 

[sophieloves]

sincere condolences on your loss, WSO

 

[vampiredust]

You have my condolences, dearest WSO

 

[Liar]

He posted in the forum a little over a week ago. Damn...

A kind man gifted with a peculiar kind of brilliance. You'll be very missed.



*****

23,485,933. . . 23,485,934. . .
by Reltne


He was

a precocious child

"Daddy, count the stars!"

*****

 

[lorencino]

Long Life

To all of Rybka's friends and family and to all those who admired him:

I wish you all a long life.

—Lawrence

 

[Angeline]

I have spent some very special time with a very special person and it is my saddest task to let you all know that last Tuesday (northern hemisphere time) Rybka passed away of natural causes in his sleep.

Rybka, my friend, my mentor, my sweet heart, I miss you more than I can ever say. Rest in peace lovely man.


Here is one of my favourite Rybka poems:

Pull Only The Weeds
by Rybka©


The best day ever
was one that never
ended

Time cannot sever
memories forever
tended ​

i will remember you.

Oh Rybka! We pmed each just last week to say hi and talk about New England winters. I can barely type through the tears. We would email each other every few months just to say hello. This is so, so sad. I am glad he died peacefully in his sleep. I know the last few years have been hard for him.

He could be such a curmudgeon, but once you got to know him he was just a beautiful person. We talked about jazz a lot together.

And he was very, very talented:

Sundowner


Have not you ever seen
the sea turn red wine plum
and all the splashing colors run
when with a flash of green
the spinning earth does come
and swallows up the liquid sun.
All nature holds collective breath
of silent lemon-gold, high polished brass
washed copper coin.

Then wood dove calls the color orange
and dusk turns down star speckled bed
rose-carmethene limned
fizzy pillow pink
grape-purpled coverlet
tangerine and crimson sheets.

Rubescent clouds on damask feet
rush towards the darkling evening bight
to kiss and greet
the starlit night
homeward tolling fluffy sheep
they stop at earth-sky edge to bleat
and lick the sultry rim of sleep.

Rest in peace dear friend.

http://www.americabyrail.net/Assets/RS-Sunset%20at%20Peggy's%20Cove.gif

 

[WickedEve]

Oh, fishie. He's been around and part of this forum for so many years. I'm crying for him now. WSO, I'm glad you two had a close relationship for so long. Heck, you two were the only ones on my eveshabit forum. lol I'm looking at it now and there's a ton of rybka there -- his jokes and his poems. I remember when Ange and I created a spot for his More Medicine thread because he loved to post his humor. Silly, fish.

 

[jthserra]

.
.
.
.
.
...bare branches
even the birds sing
......................of silence









One of the best of us is gone.

 

[Guest]

Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear about Rybka
Through the years, I've enjoyed his sense of humor in the forum and catching his work on Lit pages with his quirky little poems.

 

[paulinsomerset]

sad

sorry to hear the news.

paul c

 

[Tathagata]

He was a good man, unique and always ready to offer help to anyone.
Namaste' Rybka

WSO I am sorry for your loss, but glad you have treasured memories that can never be taken away

 

[4degrees]

one more poet switching dimensions, i'm sure he will find much to write about there.

the poetry forum will only be one small place where his presence is missed.

bless you wso.

 

[Tzara]

Rybka wrote interesting, odd poems that were very distinctive and often quite funny. I particularly liked his reviews, which were always detailed, opinionated, and matter-of-fact.

I will miss him.

 

[TheRainMan]

how very sad this is.

a terrific guy, in every way.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Thank you for relaying this sad news WSO.

I will never forget Rybka with his gentle humour and wise advise. It's small comfort I know but he went in the best of all ways, in his sleep leaving us a great gift, his poetry. I think this is my personal favourite work of his but they are all stamped with his special style.

Liver Spots
by Rybka



A redbird sang for a mate today
high in a maple across the way
Where sap still drips for nights are cold
While morning sun breaks winter's hold


.......Brown earth shows

through melting drifts


.................................................................................of frozen snow ...

Liver spots


.......................upon the hand......................of Old Man Winter

grow

 

[foehn2]

loss...

oh, damn. sigh

 

[unpredictablebijou]

I was only just beginning to get to know the man and his work. I regret not doing so more quickly.

Here are two passages I love from Chuang Tzu. I read this at my own grandfather's memorial service. It is a poem of sorts and so I think Rybka may enjoy it too. Italics are mine.

My compassion to those who must remain behind for a while longer.

bijou

***


When Master Yu fell ill, Master Ssu went to ask him how he was. “Amazing!” said Master Yu. “The Creator is making me all crooked like this! My back sticks up like a hunchback and my vital organs are on top of me. My chin is hidden in my navel, my shoulders are up above my head, and my pigtail points at the sky. It must be some dislocation of yin and yang!”

Yet he seemed calm at heart and unconcerned. Dragging himself haltingly to the well, he looked at his reflection and said, “My, my! So the Creator is making me all crooked like this!”

“Do you resent it?” asked Master Ssu.

“Why no, what would I resent? If the process continues, perhaps in tine he'll transform my left arm into a rooster. In that case I'll keep watch on the night. Or perhaps he'll transform my right arm into a crossbow pellet and I'll shoot down an owl for roasting. Or perhaps in time he'll transform my buttocks into cartwheels. Then, with my spirit for a horse, I'll climb up and go for a ride. What need will I ever have for a carriage again?

“I received life because the time had come; I will lose it because the order of things passes on. Be content with this time and dwell in this order and then neither sorrow nor joy can touch you. In ancient times this was called the 'freeing of the bound.' There are those who cannot free themselves, because they are bound by things. But nothing can ever win against Heaven – that's the way it's always been. What would I have to resent?”

***

Suddenly Master Lai grew ill. Gasping and wheezing, he lay at the point of death. His wife and children gathered round in a circle and began to cry. Master Li, who had come to ask how he was, said, “Shoo! Get back! Don't disturb the process of change!”

Then he leaned against the doorway and talked to Master Lai. “How marvelous the Creator is! What is he going to make out of you next? Where is he going to send you? Will he make you into a rat's liver? Will he make you into a bug's arm?”

Master Lai said, “A child, obeying his father and mother, goes wherever he is told, east or west, south or north. And the yin and yang – how much more are they to a man than father or mother! Now that they have brought me to the verge of death, if I should refuse to obey them, how perverse I would be! What fault is it of theirs? The Great Clod burdens me with form, labors me with life, eases me in old age, and rests me in death. So if I think well of my life, for the same reason I must think well of my death.

"When a skilled smith is casting metal, if the metal should leap up and say, 'I insist on being made into a great sword!' he sould surely regard it as very inauspicious metal indeed. Now, having had the audacity to take on human form once, if I should say, 'I don't want to be anything but a man! Nothing but a man!' the Creator would surely regard me as a most inauspicious sort of person. So now I think of heaven and earth as a great furnace, and the Creator as a skilled smith. Where could he send me that would not be alright? I will go off to sleep peacefully, and then with a start I will wake up.”

 

[sophieloves]

though i didn't know this friend to many of you in his lifetime,
i hope to become aquainted with him
through the legacy of his works here

 

[Angeline]

though i didn't know this friend to many of you in his lifetime,
i hope to become aquainted with him
through the legacy of his works here

Maybe Evie can put up a link to his poetry at her site (if she still has the site active). Rybka, like many of us here, took down poems from Lit from time to time because he was publishing them elsewhere. I'd love to reread some of his other work. He had some wonderful jazz poetry, for example, that doesn't exist here at Lit anymore.

 

[Guest]

I was wondering whether anyone had knowledge of Rybka's "Butterfly Boots" was still around or not. I know it's not on his submission page as it was one of the ones he had deleted en masse. That poem along with smithpeter's, Angeline's, and Lauren's visually snagged my interests for illustrated poems to begin with.

 

[wildsweetone]

I was wondering whether anyone had knowledge of Rybka's "Butterfly Boots" was still around or not. I know it's not on his submission page as it was one of the ones he had deleted en masse. That poem along with smithpeter's, Angeline's, and Lauren's visually snagged my interests for illustrated poems to begin with.

i have it. are you saying that Butterfly Boots was written by Rybka? he gave it to me with a different name and i was never able to find out. can you be certain it was his poetry?

i am compiling a collection of all of the poetry he wrote that i can get my hands on. he also has a sister who has said if she finds any, she will pass them on to me. his writing will not be 'lost'. i just need some time to gather it all together. i will let you know what happens with it.

thank you for all the kind thoughts and prayers. and yes Tath, i have some wonderful memories, he became my other father. *smile*

 

[Guest]

i have it. are you saying that Butterfly Boots was written by Rybka? he gave it to me with a different name and i was never able to find out. can you be certain it was his poetry?

i am compiling a collection of all of the poetry he wrote that i can get my hands on. he also has a sister who has said if she finds any, she will pass them on to me. his writing will not be 'lost'. i just need some time to gather it all together. i will let you know what happens with it.

thank you for all the kind thoughts and prayers. and yes Tath, i have some wonderful memories, he became my other father. *smile*

I saw the poem posted on his submission's page when I first came to Literotica. If you like, you could ask for confirmination of him being the one who wrote "Butterfly Boots", by Angeline, Lauren, Eve, Champy or NJ. They were around at the time so they might remember it as well. He deleted all his work one time that I recall and that's about when Reltne was created.

 

[Angeline]

i have it. are you saying that Butterfly Boots was written by Rybka? he gave it to me with a different name and i was never able to find out. can you be certain it was his poetry?

i am compiling a collection of all of the poetry he wrote that i can get my hands on. he also has a sister who has said if she finds any, she will pass them on to me. his writing will not be 'lost'. i just need some time to gather it all together. i will let you know what happens with it.

thank you for all the kind thoughts and prayers. and yes Tath, i have some wonderful memories, he became my other father. *smile*

Yes my dear lady he wrote it. I remember when he did. We were both getting into illustrated poems then and I recall we talked about it. It is characteristically modest of him not to tell you he did it. It's a beautiful piece of work, isn't it?