St. Michaels, Maryland Poem by Bill Galvin

A wonderful meeting of heart and spirit
On historic Chesapeake shores,
Within a setting of calm and tranquility,
And in rooms of peace and healing quietude;
Such a positive aura as to allow my first meditation
In a long, long while.

Sharing and reconnecting with a dear Paulette;
Resurrecting the finest memories
Of our lost loves, Deborah and Richard.
A chapter or more from lives of long ago…
The coiled paths of four souls intersecting once more,
After thirty years of distance.

Tell me once again, please…
How Deb made you smile;
How her stories made you laugh;
How you shared ideas on your walks in the woods
On the hills of Maine, Vermont, and New Mexico;
How you saw the first displays of her courage,
Her first forays against her mighty foe, Lupus;
How you admired her humor in spite of everything.

And your beloved spouse; the heartbreaking loss;
The love and life and adventures you shared;
Your one and only… your soulmate;
His picture on your mantle still, sixteen years passed;
How partnered lives shape us when two become one.
Deb and I remembered Dick…
A good man who walked this earth too short a time.

Tell me once again, please…
Of when Dick came back from near death,
And brought back that message from the other side,
That tells us that behind the silky veil is simply “Love”,
It is peaceful, and we should not fear it.
And I’ll speak of Deb’s sweet passing;
How she managed a smile out of her paralytic body,
While watching our wedding slide show,
Listening to her wedding music, hand-in-hand with me.
We will celebrate their lives together.
It was nice to hear that you still consult Dick,
As I do Deb.

We’ll look at photos old and new,
And talk of where we were and have been since then.

Tell me once again, please…
How long the loss stings,
How long the volleys of grief rain upon our tenuous world;
How long before the emotional winds subside,
Till we once again can rebuild, rewire, and rebound.

Let’s talk once again, please…
About the common bond we share,
The restless, sleepless activity of sole caregiving;
The terrible loveliness of assisting the helpless;
Seeing the other side of life;
Living through the bittersweet terminal phase;
The beautiful torture of witnessing the end of suffering;
You do for them because you love them so much.

And the comfort that’s found in doing all there is to do;
In searching all possible solutions;
In providing all possible comfort;
In finding all there is to find;
Saying all there is to say;
Giving more than there seems to give,
Lifting more than ever lifted before
To furnish order and dignity amid the uncertainty;
To make those last months all that they can be.

And it conveys the purest form of love,
And it is the closest and truest possible intimacy.

We were, indeed, as you say, two lucky people.

Tell me of the peace that comes eventually.

Let’s talk once again, Ladyfriend…
And thank you for showing me how life will go on,
But good memory does not need to fade.

6-13-2015 (Rest in Peace, Deb and Dick)