A fond farewell

Dignity in the face of loss
            or the slow ebb of affection
when love slips away
            and silence and coldness
take its place

She was a lady of flowers
            an unending river
a city of the imagination
            an early morning song
she was flesh and blood
            and her eyes danced
before all she saw
            the magical breath of life
she was the stuff of dreams
            made real and whole
and a force of nature
            she was where I always
longed to lay me down to rest
            in her open arms
in her open heart
            she was beauty
refracted through love
            and for a while
I was hers and
            she was mine

John Lyons