Parting at evening - Richard Outram

The lake is borrowed light,
    Its darkening waters
Lengthen into night;

Frail on the grazed field,
    Emerald, or ermine,
Or sere as seasons yield,

You move toward the gate,
    For long familiar,
Beyond which the Estate

Of Wilderness contains
    Your lost Garden.
As long as there remains

Enough light to make out,
    In cedars' shadow
Masking you without

Holding you, the one
    Gesture recognized,
We remain, undone

By absence, but not grieving,
    Witnessing one
Entering, leaving.

for D.H.C.

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Richard Outram (1930 - 2005) Canada