For Mary Helen

Ashes to the Sea

A strange and settled calm enveloped me

This morning when I said my last farewell.

I walked in peace no sorrow could displace,

No anguished thought intrude down to the sea.

The sun though cloud-obscured would soon arise,

The eye of moon closed slowly sinking down

Into the pensive day's awakening.

They gathered silent by the parapet

Watching as I walked through waves and foam

Releasing your body's essence from my clasp.

In this hour of serenity when loss

Is but a dream and grief a luxury

You would not countenance in your regard,

All pain expunged by grace, the wounded heart

Widened to encompass life and death

As moments in the play of endless time

In this saga of the human soul on earth,

All my being focused now on Her

Surrenders in a blaze of golden light.