"Their Wings Do Gleam"

To Dorothy, in Memory of Jim

"Tis better to have loved and lost than ne'er to have at all".
This is what I've always heard,
But now such words seem small...

For, loss of lovings' beauty with its crystal entity
'Tis much more grief and empitiness than I can bear to breathe'

So tell me, Soul, how do you know love's true identity?
'Tis in the heart with grappling, hoping, deep intensity'.

But when we lose that most sweetest, most profound ecstacy...
Are we resigned to lose our loved ones in the final sleep?

"No, you will never lose your loved one's thoughts or hopes and dreams...
They'll travel with you every day as you deal with life's schemes.

You'll cry and pray and talk with them at hours when others sleep...
And always in your truest heart, you'll know their wings do gleam.

For, Angels they are now and all forever through our lives...
They'll watch and love and comfort us, and never leave our sides."

~~Barbara E. Burrow