for all the beloveds

Some starry night put on your warmest coat

And find a place to sit upon the ground,

And watch the sky roll slowly as we turn,

And breathe it in like one who nearly drowned.

And remember sights that so filled you with hope

You said a prayer of thanks—their beauty such—

To have the gift of eyes; and sounds so rich

You wept that you could hear; and touch . . . ah, touch.

And feel the love that wraps you like that coat,

Love woven through your life, a fabric vast,

And I, one of the threads that kept you warm

As you kept me, until the very last.

See in that starry sky as slow it rolls

The journey of your own exquisite soul.