by Robin Chapman

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD,

PRAYERS FOR THE LIVING

May your bodies’ dance

moving through cold and heat

dance still in that new country

May your minds’ swift fierceness

piercing space, traveling time

find joy in that new company

May your hearts’ beating, exulting leap

into the tumbled tectonic plates

leap still in memory

May what you loved—high alpine meadows,

rivers, forest, deep snows flashing light—

persist, and nourish us

May your spirits—

wild, content in solitude—shine for us

in the endless, spacious stream

-from Smoke and Strong Whiskey (WordTech Editions, 2008)