The Empty Chalice

I have built a warming fire in my heart

As winter sends his greetings to the trees,

My late chrysanthemums arrive in joy

Camellias in sculptured beauty blossom forth.

Though I grow old in human years I pray

For many more my youthful self to learn

The undiscovered continents of mind

To be revealed in the silence of the soul.

Today was an extraordinary day.

For the first time I became aware

Of the enchanting fragrance of magnolia wood

And the tenaciousness of a certain weed

Among the iris singing by the lake.

What is yet to come is a glory wrapped and sealed,

Almost invisible to the outer eye,

Revealed in beauty to the one who loves

And holds the empty chalice to be filled.