For my dearest cousin, my sweetest friend.

You’re in the warmth of the sun,

the breeze that blows through my hair,

a golden flash of a finches wing

as it flies beneath an azure blue sky

above daffodils, crocus and lesser celandines.

 

You’re in the soft downy buds of the willow,

the heart shaped leaf of the lime,

soft silken moss and gentle rain

that bejewels the hedgerow,

and the colours of the rainbow

as it arcs across the universe

protecting the earth.

 

You’re in dew freshened grass

and the song of the robin,

the stars and the moon

with their silvered reflection

on the rippling water of life.

 

You’re in my heart,

           my breath,

                   my life,

                         my journey

towards the richness and freedom of eternity.

 

Elaine Morris (c)  March 2014. 

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry.

For my cousin and loyal friend Denny who sadly lost her very short fight against cancer after only 9 weeks.

When despair grows in me and I wake in the middle of the night

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be.

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water

and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethoughts of grief.

I come into the presence of still water

and feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting for their light.

For a time, I rest in the grace of the world and am free.