Night Wind

National Review, Sept 1, 2008 by William W. Runyeon

NIGHT WIND

   What the heart believes is never lost:
   though sometimes
   to give it up
   seems the relief
   for which we would be
   most grateful.

   And as time passes by,
   one belief,
   or another,
   and still another,
   and the pain of the loss
   intensifies,
   then diminishes;
   the sense that
   there is something more
   arrives from the stillness
   that centers the suffering,
   as it recasts identity.

   And somewhere
   the seeds
   from the dead flowers
   have been cradled
   on the wind,
   as we can feel--
   without knowing.

   And that awareness
   is followed through,
   even across
   the open car
   that passes by--

   And its music
   that extends
   far beyond,
   in the way of aspirations
   of which no one
   may yet be aware.