Much more than half my life ago

Some chance led us to this place;

Now, my heart is caught and held

By the peace of its earth and space.

 

Some while past, when first she left me

I could not make my soul adjust

But cached it safe within the plot

Beside her memory and her mortal dust.

 

And as the family aged and spread

My lonely tenancy grew content

Past spectres guiding present life –

Perfect dreams too often dreamt.

 

So, time passes. Rooted, alone

This place is all I want or wish to know

And only where I wish to stay –

To tend, to minister, and bestow.

 

Where else would my heart worship?

The land, my chancel; the air my steeple cross

I am the warden, priest and choir

Cloistered with my earthly loss.