As when a man who has been dementing for years –
old friends burst into tears
when they see the ruins of his mind
old lovers in despair
look up the rules for Dignitas –
when he dies at last, gently, in deep sleep
and one by one for the rest of us
the memories sweep back,
how he listened, how he believed in dialogue
and held warmth in his heart to the end –
so, looking down from the cliff
I watch the wild Greek ocean-going waves
with their cargo of flotsam and salt
roil around the rocks, fan up in spray, spread their all-
embracing murmur on the shore, and never stop.
