A Thought for Emily

 

Your precious feet were there once pressed against the

familiar floorboards when your poems suddenly appeared to you

like lightning. I wonder which window they came in? 

Here's a thought: you were like a window. You

caught all that light in yourself and let it

shine through. You were the one the wind was

 

being lovely for up in the nearby trees, fluffing

out all the leaves like a bird showing off.

You were the one the rushing stars were spinning 

faster and faster for to get your focused attention,

to look into those eternal eyes again and again.

I'm sure the occasional rain only wanted to be

 

closer to your inside movement and was willing to

settle for anything on your windows if that was

all there was left in the world for it. 

And then there's that little bitty writing desk, it

fit no one else like it fit you, your

lamp like a mighty little lighthouse sending its flickering

 

beams against the shadowy walls to warn off any

incoming ships of fools. I am one of those

fools make no mistake, Emily. All of your flowers 

must have loved the time of your coming to

water them, to lift their heads in admiration, your

fingers in the dirt around their roots like God's

 

worms, digging, tending, healing. That absence must have been

felt through each and every garden in the world,

I know it is in mine. And yet there 

is still a tender, comforting response happening today for

the constant reading of your amazing letters to the world.  

I should know. This poem's my own letter back.