Two Sonnets for Prince (and Intro)

Intro:

When I think of April, I think of Prince's 
untimely death nine years ago, in April. 
If there is a month when purple rain falls, 
it's gotta be April, right? Because "purple" 
and "April" almost rhyme. We had been 
on one of our trips to Portugal 
to see the in-laws and the out-laws
where I learned of a collaboration 
between Prince and one of the then new divas 
of fado, Ana Moura. I had never been much
of a Prince fan, but the thing, the duet
he did with Ana Moura caught my attention. 
So, of course, I wrote a poem about it. 
It was Earth Day, after all, so there are traces 
of Walt Whitman floating all through it. 
But it is as much a tribute to Prince as anything. 
Here is is for your enjoyment:

Two Sonnets for Prince
  
When I heard the learn’d oceanographer
(it was Earth Day, and our shining Prince had fallen),
When the volume, velocity and variability
of data-rich information overwhelmed the deep,
When I examined the core skills of data management
(data is just an artifact, a document, an antelope),
When I listened to it, the oceanographer’s lecture
excited our minds, with much applause from the librarians;
After the talk we walked to Brookland, the full moon
overhead brightly illuminating a city in mourning, darkened
by uncertainty (our Prince had fallen like the rain),
And approaching Foggy Bottom, I caught a faint whiff
of the swamp beneath us, the sound of the river beyond
slowly turning, emptying into the sea.

They say Prince enjoyed a good fado and even traveled
to Lisbon to bathe in its mysterious, noble sound:
a music of sailors on long voyages to unknown, distant places
far from their home country - of women selling fish
down the winding streets of Mouraria and Alfama,
singing prayer songs for their lovers' safe returns,
wailing blues songs for a love forever lost.
Fado's essence is its poetry - the music follows,
sets the stage, and Prince was ok with that,
at least he played his guitar like he was.
From the words, the sounds emit. From the sounds,
the music soon escapes - a fleeting moment, 
pure, distilled. And Prince slipped Earth's surly bonds
and just as quickly scaled eternity.

Hope I can get an Amen for the lovers of fado out there!