Weathering

My Love—‘tis simplest name her Love—
Delighted in the clouds above,
And I do own ‘twas my delight
Like her to trace their heav’nly flight.
We spent a summer, maybe two,
(So past ‘twas now, I can’t recall)
Trying to keep the clouds in view
Before the storms began to fall.

But when they broke, how hard they fell!
We parted at the thunder’s knell,
To lightnings all around us blast,
And some of which ourselves had cast.
I wish that shattered Love could find
A cloud ungrayed by loss or pains,
Where mem’ry to us both were kind
And soothing as the gentle rains.

A decade and some years had gone
Wherein my gaze was never borne
Above, but to the ground was cast
Lest I recall those summers past,
Until a Friend spoke from the blue
To share a tear that I had shed;
Her nimb directed terrene view
Adore again a thunderhead.

I wish my mourning Friend could find
A cloud where memory is kind,
That softens sorrow’s graven pains
Like marble in its gentle rains.
Ah, Lord! Sing o’er my Friend in love—
Surpass my song when Love was mine—
Her sighs and tears that waft above
Condense to peace and joy sublime.

—8/2/25. After a Friend.