Westering*

A friend came by night to say that you were calling out
Not knowing that really you were being called,
Called to the coast,that coast,
The western edge of all,between here and there.
Never has here seemed so near
Nor there so very far
My heart clinging to both, stretching 
Until it tore.

"Beyond all things is the sea",a wise man said,
Another that"All men must be sailors"
And be borne home or down
By the quick late relentless waves.

Those who face these waves unflinching
Are not the great and mighty
But those who live in love
Love is strength and beauty
Love is,
It is enough.
Those who love are are wise
And the waves hold no terror for them.

Grief comes in waves,dark unmindful
Encircling with its strange current and
Stranger still its comfort.
When it departs,strangest of all,
We grieve the loss of grief.

At the last breath the twentieth century fell
From your face.
And all that was timeless rose
The queenly features of a wise and noble race
The emanation of an everlasting soul
Everlasting but not everstaying
A short long journey now
Leaving an empty vessel
And the mocking of impotent foes.

Tonight,here and there met
In your simple heart
The last farewell unsaid,but understood
                                                             Wilf 1998 
   *For my mother who went to be with the Lord on Tuesday 24th of June 1997