When Near the Willows

-I remember long, and windy autumn nights--
leaves which twirled and fell around me--
the dew of summer, through morning light.
I will always sense your breath next to me,
I'll know you're near, and love me.
And I will you.
For as many summers to come, or few,
I'll consider the roses,and willows too.
But so long these years, have passed me now.
Oh, how dearly close, they've held to me,
and I, to them.
Yet, now and then, I lose my will of strength, and bend--
droop into sadness, that only darkness knows--
into myself, a part, we think is gone.
But death of any heart, is life long.
And where shadows this life, new life may spawn,
in other places we never knew.
When so far this way, I've come to view,
and much against what I believed,
somehow, to find my way to leave,
while in my heart ... I followed you.

David T Culver 2002