For Sean, on His 26th Birthday

The windows are open;
Air from the garden
Will freshen your room.

A hurricane brought you
And took you away:
You are part of its force.

The shoreline before me
Recedes and advances;
My boat is becalmed.

Ripples from stones that
You threw in Lough Ramor
Are shaping the water.

A tribute to you is
A tribute to life, which
Needs no such plaudits.

But things I have written
Will stand, as your spirit
Resonates in them.

Beauty and love will be
All I remember
Of your days and mine.

The glorious essence
Of summer, of laughter:
The halcyon time.

And when I imagine
You standing before me,
The world disappears.