For Mary Helen

Hero-Child

In the midnight, at the noon

Wonderment at body's ruin,

Escaping of the final breath

Into the nether land of death.

Love deepened as the days grew worse

Facing silently the curse

Of cells mutating wantonly

And all my soul cried out for thee.

O gentle spirit gone to rest

I hold within the broken breast

An image fashioned through the years,

A hero-child beloved of seers,

An arrow flaming through the skies

Unwavering towards Paradise.

Remember us left here alone

Who labour still to find the One.