The View from the Clouds

The View from the Clouds

to my mother, who is gone

I floated above where the grasses lie

soft and slow beneath the sky

and I saw the stone that bears your name

held in earth, untouched by fame

No noise, no fuss, no need to please

just wind that moves through silent trees

and all around, the daisies grow

as if they knew and wished me slow

I almost called, I almost wept

for all the things I never kept

your laugh, your hands, the way you frowned

when I was lost and wouldn’t be found

The sky was clear, the light was low

I hovered there and could not go

and though the world kept spinning by

I stayed and watched and let time sigh

You’re quiet now beneath the green

and nothing stirs where you have been

except my heart, which still won’t sleep

though yours lies folded, soft and deep

So if you felt the clouds grow near

if something brushed your dreaming ear

that was just me, without a sound

still loving you from higher ground