To Shirley, Beloved Friend, Fellow Traveller

Sister-Soul

And when you spoke, your voice a plaintive cry

Not wanting me to see the illness' toll,

But I have glimpsed beyond the mortal eye

The deep and stainless radiance of your soul.

I have caught your falling tears, transmuting them

In the sanctuary of the sacred heart,

By the spirit's magic alchemy, to jewels

More precious than earth's or heaven's fairest art.

Now I'll guard through all the journeying years

This sister soul, this fire ever bright,

This gentle dispensation from above

Who walks with me from light to greater light.