The Bringers of Gifts

Helen Birch Bartlett

High above the city
We stood, and watched the boats upon the river.

You had your dreams…
But the deeper peace that I knew at last
Was not in your eyes’ grey depths.

From the cup of my hands
You drank but the remembrance of sorrow;
I knew but the fragrance of your spirit
When the censer
Lay broken at my feet.

Above the city
We watched the life of the river.
We saw the lights appear…