LOOK: Chris Cornell honored by Audioslave’s Tom Morello with a poem

The death of rock musician Chris Cornell brought the entire international music industry in mourning. It is a great, sudden loss of a great, singular talent, as declared by no less than the living legends of rock music—from Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page to The Band’s Robbie Robertson.

But the loss of his friendship and fellowship appears to be even more painful to his contemporaries, particularly with those whom he played with throughout his remarkable career, from the early years of grunge seeing him as frontman of Soundgarden, all the way to the period of his collaborative projects with other rock legends.

One of these stellar collaborations was Audioslave, a supergroup formed in 2001 by former members of Rage Against the Machine with Cornell as vocalist. The band went on to put out three albums before disbanding in 2007. Despite the split, Cornell and Tom Morello, Audioslave’s lead guitarist, have been vocal about the possibility of a reunion.

That reunion shall never happen now with Cornell’s death, but Morello, in a moving tribute to his fellow musician and friend, wrote a poem and shared it publicly via his official Instagram account on May 19.

You’re a prince, you’re a snare, you’re a shadow You’re twilight and star burn and shade You’re a sage, you’re a wound shared, you’re masked You’re a pillar of smoke, you’re a platinum heart You’re a brush fire, you’re caged, you’re free Your vision pierces, you do not see You are pieces strewn on the hillside You’re open armed, you’re armed, you’re true You’re a revealer of visions, you’re the passenger, you’re a never fading scar You’re twilight and star burn and shade You’re the secret veiled, you’re the secret revealed, you’re surrounded no more You’re not there, now you’re always here Youre a handsome groom, a loving father, a haunted stairwell You’re the clear bell ringing, the mountains echo your song Maybe no one has ever known you You are twilight and star burn and shade

A post shared by Tom Morello (@tommorello) on May 19, 2017 at 5:10pm PDT

Here is the full text of Morello’s poem:

“You’re a prince, you’re a snare, you’re a shadow

You’re twilight and star burn and shade

You’re a sage, you’re a wound shared, you’re masked

You’re a pillar of smoke, you’re a platinum heart

You’re a brush fire, you’re caged, you’re free

Your vision pierces, you do not see

You are pieces strewn on the hillside

You’re open armed, you’re armed, you’re true

You’re a revealer of visions, you’re the passenger, you’re a never fading scar

You’re twilight and star burn and shade

You’re the secret veiled, you’re the secret revealed, you’re surrounded no more

You’re not there, now you’re always here

You’re a handsome groom, a loving father, a haunted stairwell

You’re the clear bell ringing, the mountains echo your song

Maybe no one has ever known you

You are twilight and star burn and shade.” NG

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