Celia

Celia,
You are green:
Fresh and young and true.
Time nor age nor scalding pain
Has burnt out
The living parts in you.
But where the old has gone,
A new shoot has grown
Out of the recesses of the old.
You are green and will grow
Greener every day -
Sprouting new shoots and leaves and flowers
Throughout the entire season
Of your existence.

You are a living thing
Not dead wood - no elaborate
Carved and polished structure are you,
Celia.

You are a poet's dream.
The pessimist's hope- the cynic's belief
You are my love
A great relief
After all my lessons
In mundane earth forms:
Studies that choked me
Till you brought the breath back Celia,
Fresh and young,
And true.