She of Clouds and Flowers

This is an unpublished poem written for Stephanie in 2004 by JPMD and shared with her before she died.

Music drifts across the hills
Caresses the petals of the gardens
Sweetens the grapes on terraced vineyards
Inspires the nightingales on the wing
Moves to pause the farmers in their tiny fields

She sings
In joyous verse
To the flowers
For their brilliant color
To the fruit
For their sweet nectar
To the vines
For their gifts of wine
To the trees
For their cool shadows in summer’s heat

Above,
The vibrant azure sky
Dotted with tufts like cotton
Casts roaming patches of shade
Upon random, lucky workers
Toiling beneath the Mediterranean sun

Her song reaches out
As if from the heavens
Soothes like a balm upon leathered skin
Heals like the touch of a holy peasant
Fills each great empty space with light and hope

Every melodic phrase
Renews what has aged
Sweetens that which has grown bitter
Softens the granite of too many lost hearts

Her voice
Like her soul
A thing of beauty
A thing of companionship
A thing of love

She
Of clouds and flowers