A Patina of Soul – for V

For Vasi, who inspired it.

Reaching, stretching, never yielding,
Sighing without a sense of feeling,
For Earth is where we go to grow
To gain a patina of soul.

Here where human shadows die,
What some call the Other Side,
There’s naught to challenge us, no pain,
Yet down we look and think, “Again…”

With pride we wear life’s battle-scars,
But it’s in heaven where we are
Who god made us to start to be
Though my path’s determined by me.

In this perfect, bright white sky,
I cannot hear Earth’s primal cries,
Nor gain wisdom, nor understand
As I can with my feet on her land.

Now I dream in this perfect world
A path that will with time unfurl,
Will take me where I used to be
Like a wave remembering the sea.

August 2025