Author: Elizabeth Maynard

From this balcony
I see a valley
green with rain
as red-breasted fody
sing morning to each other

Now almost finished
each step labor
food beyond savoring
you wait for the last
goodbye

On this date in 1959
you stood
thousands of miles
distant
one sun rose
another set
as you wondered 
if the other even existed

It is hard to arrange a life
just so
never more or less
than loved and needed

Flirt with your future
like the most beautiful thing
you can imagine

I have not been fair
to myself most of all
decades demanded sacrifice
I obeyed this and every 
other false g-d

Fly away home
like the impossibly red bird
winging from my wet window

Draw me out upon the water
to find my footing on the waves

Your body surrendered
after this long struggle
You had enough
and called it your last day

It is not you who rises
but we who bow daily