Coming downstairs slow and steady
Crinkled and wrinked with ruffled hair
I hold her dreams close to me –
Pause at the turning of the stairs–
Postpone eternity
Until I have drunk two strong coffees,
Smoked an imaginary cigarette,
Said good morning to those I love,
Who are now among the dead;
Recite a quiet antiphon in my muddled head.
Look out of the French windows
Into the garden she has spent a lifetime moulding
Into scattered beauty. I hobble to the back door.
Look at the greens and blues and yellows and reds
Like the sprinklings of a symphony,
Creation unchallenged, undefeated
Through all the births, marriages and deaths,
And the smidgen of llife that is left,
She taught me tears are the price of smiles,
Grief the cost of love
And her smile will endure with me,
Laughingly, all through eternity.