FOR MARY-JANE ON HER BIRTHDAY, September 1997

Dear to my heart and close
I bore you, when you unknowing
Lay accepting in may arms.
Now you are grown and such
A joy to me. How I have watched
And treasured those moments
When you have triumphed over pain
And shared with me your
Thoughts and joys and fears.
Not only fears, though,
But your fighting spirit
Which has made for you
An honoured place in your
Own field of true endeavour.
Go forward, girl, confident, to a still
Uncertain future, for no one
Knows what tomorrow brings.
But you have skills and care for
All who know your healing touch.
Go forward in a spirit of high adventure
And come back renewed in heart and mind.
I have no gift for you
Excepting this:
My prayers go with you
As they always have and will.
Rely on them when mountains
Seem too high to climb
And valleys way too far below.
The world has need of such as you.
You have made me laugh
Through my own trials
And advised me truly.

Dear to my heart and close I
Bear you – no burden ever
But a gift for me to treasure.

JEB

For more information on these poems, contact edmund@balnaves.org