i don't have to tell you
how disappointing people can be.
son, you've seen it all...

and yet
sometimes the sun
comes back so
silently, so
naive
and tender.

in august, in spite of
goldenrod and loosestrife
in profusion,
the hills wait
for winter again.

real love is beyond charm
it is soundless at the core
honorable and unbreakable
only time and erosion
can tell its depth and sincerity,

nothing ever turned you from
the gift of loving.
not a wheelchair,
not people letting doors shut in your face,
not being robbed,
abandoned,
deceived.

you will always be
my beacon of light
reminding me that love is possible

dear son,
how shall i write you this letter to express the inexpressible?  you are gone,
but never gone. the sun has risen on a beautiful day. it promises
goodness beyond human affairs. it was a day just like this when we
scattered your ashes in the sea at World's End.
there were gulls crying.
there were clouds, scudding across -- but i cant remember
any sky.  the sky had lifted to a height beyond human eyes.
there was only a voyage into salt spray
ashes and water

and beyond the oceans of the world
beyond grief and despair

the shores of memory

your essence:

sonlight