For Mary Helen – February 18, 2002

In Thy Soul's Proximity

Soon the fairy buds of spring will break

And gaily will the scented blossoms dance

All Nature from unconscious sleep awake

Renew with earth her many-hued romance.

O comrade soul we shall not hear again

The wren a-burst with song, the eagle's cry

Or tread the airy mosses in the glen

For you have flown the nest and life's awry.

O spirit of thy inner self aware

The world is still too cruel to cherish thee,

But I have grown to breathe a vaster air

For dwelling in thy soul's proximity.