To be free, we left our old lives behind,
but we never reached the end of our road,
even when we reached our shining sea.
So many things we never found time for,
never got to see the Taj Mahal, or Kyoto,
or experience the perfect peace of Iona.
Now I have nothing left to lose, but walk on:
someone asked “How did you manage 33 years?”
“True love, friend, you should try it sometime.”
Now I have new friends you never got to meet,
I have been to places we never saw together,
and listen to music you never got to hear.
You, who loved William Morris’s work,
never set foot in St. Mary Magdalene Church,
beautified by Morris & Co. stained glass.
And you never met the mermaids under
the new moon, crooning Change is now,
who let me walk their beach as meditation.
Soon I will visit San Francisco again,
I’d like to say you will be there with me
in spirit, but I know you are truly gone.
But I will go anyway, and return to Texas
next year, and tell everyone I meet about you,
then read them the poems you never saw.
My life will go on; I will always think of you,
especially when rain batters our windows,
knowing that at last you are truly free.
From Blue to the Edge (Independent Publishing Network, 2020)
