From Beyond

I sat there beside the fire that night
contemplating life, the grave and beyond
lost in sorrow to painful to give words to
there came a furtive sound, a gentle sigh
a sigh of longing, loss and hurt
a low, soft sound that I could not ignore
a cold breath flowed past my cheek
I remembered then a young woman
fair of hair and with bright eyes
who had brought to me happiness
and a measure of ease from a life of pain
now she has gone from this ugly world
I hope to have found a more just one beyond
on the other side of the grave
I heard that sigh, soft and gentle as if to say:
You have not lost my love, nor have I
for we had the world and love for a time
and that is all I ever wanted
and while for me life has fled and my pain ended
Yours is to continue a while longer
and in the sad sigh was all the sorrow my heart could bear
and all the release it could ever have wished for
though I knew it not at the time
the final gift of my dead love to me was this:
The gift of my own life and the will to live it
that night I slept troubled not by memories
and the next day the sun would rise again as always
and life will begin anew, my love will never die
but my life continues on today
and my heart healed slowly, as
impossible as it once seemed, with time
and as with all things love returned to my home and life
and the love lost to me, smiled and bid me farewell
till we should meet again in that place
beyond life, beyond the grave.