We were meant for each other.

You wayfarer

woman of the journey

walker of beaches.

Your compassion leaps across species

settles into my soul

nurtures me

as I begin my new journey.

We were meant for each other.

You lover of waterfowl,

marsh dwellers and migrants,

rising across continents

like sage smoke,

smudging our blessings

into your twilights.

Shed your sadness upon me.

I will bear it to the stars

shining your sweet soul.

Touch my wings

and feel your spirit rise

on coastal breezes so strong

they cross the plains and oceans

break boundaries, kiss summits

flutter valerian and arcs of orchid.

We were meant for each other.

You pray your praise

for my beauty

make me a god

just in time to climb

from my bones

and scatter my feathers--

a prayer to the gentle hand

and unction you laid upon me,

as you knelt beside me

comforting me

in my final moments.

My blue bill takes you back

to your birthplace in the sky,

pierces your troubled heart,

cries your blue eyes

and sails me

on a piece of your spirit
as I depart.

We were meant for each other.

Now I am gone,

but I left you, my friend

to deliver the grace of my flight

and strength of my hands

to those without light.

Dive as I did,

but submerge your Self

and the quiet gifts

of your giant heart

into the depths

of those you meet

and lift them

on Ruddy wings

to the swift blessings

of my eternity.

            - Dedicated to Geneva Currier -                                                 December 2003

12/18/2003