Matines Et Requiem (For Heather in Memory of Todd)
 

                  I

Tolling bell awakens
the dreamer and the dreamed.
Echoes dully ringing
arouse the sleeping child.
Morning dew still glistens
on rosebuds tightly closed.
Sun as yet is waiting for
the birthing of the day;
while tolling bells remember
one whose passed away.

                 II

Midst cloistered walls
and shadowed halls
priests do shuffling go;
to whispered prayers
and psalms of praise
in homespun robes they go.
To light a candle, maybe two,
In memory of a day;
when one you loved 
and held quite dear
had not yet gone beyond.

                III

His life was bright with promise.
His future filled with hope.
But idleness and parasites
drew close the shroud too soon.
Now you can only ponder 
on all he might have been.

                IV

Words he could have written,
songs he could have sung;
the way his soul shone through
the shadow in which he was held.
Do you recall the way he cocked his head,
while thinking what to say?
Or the smile that crept across his face
in such a subtle way.

                V

How I wish that 
we could but share another day.
But alas! He has now left us
gone on to his reward and we
Can only wake and pray
that god now holds him near.
As tolling bells remember
one whose passed away.