Keeping

For Amber

Keeping me here

where it’s safest to be

is the thing you have found

and held out to me.

For you, Daddy.

To keep you safe

when I’m gone.

And so it is placed within

a heart that’s left fragile in openness,

in ephemera.

Each time I turn

it’s discovered again

in full view –

you are everywhere now you are gone –

the daisy wilting softly

with measured time,

the tiniest pine cone

your forest fairies furnished.

And in this worthless thing

is a priceless kindness

so truly in your eyes

as I see them now,

smiling in earnest intent.

So, unprepared, a flashing thought of you

Momentarily, unwarily uncaptured

by my defenceless heart.

And I am left keeping

a moment refound

and a love forever retained.

© Andrew Williams

24 January 2012