"head of a young woman" - da vinci
silver shimmers
here is a thin cord from your heart
that winds its intricate way
through our wondering lives
as it finds its way to god.

we have seen it fluttering in the air
at the moment when your song is done,
and you have made us feel
like sun-warmed stones at day's end.

but now you are in a sadness
entangled in silver shimmers
and need the peace to dance free
in this time of turning and ending.

so, know that you and yours are well enfolded
by this returning flowing spirit
and your purposes are softly to be seen
there in its rhythms

be well. be true. be still.
you are ever in god's hands.
let melancholy show you afresh
where this silver thread anchors in your heart.
"remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come ...
remember him - before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well ..."      Ecclesiastes 12
to a friend who had given too much of herself away and needed time alone to heal.
she needed her family now, not us. leonardo's sketch exquisitely captured the feeling.

  1journey.net     dec 1999   elias