A Poem for Grace

Some of you may already know that Robert Mercer, Grace Lin's husband, passed away on August 27, 2007. Although I met Grace and Robert just a few years ago, we became quick friends...and they became individuals dear to my heart.

Whenever I suffer the loss of a relative or friend...whenever life gets me down, I find solace in poetry. I wanted to write something special for Grace in memory of Robert. Thanks to Tricia of the Miss Rumphius Effect I learned about the cento, which is a poem composed from lines of other writers' poems. The cento seemed a perfect form for my poem for Grace.

A Poem for Grace
(In Memory of Robert)
by Elaine


Have you ever found something beautiful, and maybe just in time?
Lift up your lovely eyes and look.
I’m going to somewhere gentle.
I have a secret power, and
I can fly to where the sky begins…
Into the white fire of a great mystery,
Feel stars and sun and bells singing,
Swing through the shadows like warm gray whispers…
Spinning and dancing.
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free…
And I consider eternity another possibility.

You were such a star to me.
Wherever you are
I watch you twinkling
While you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas.
And wherever I go, it feels as though I never left at all.
But wherever I go,
I will build a palace
Fit for you and me.

Have you ever found something beautiful, and maybe just in time?
From How Turtles Come to Spend the Winter in the Aquarium, Then Are Flown South and Released Back into the Sea by Mary Oliver
Lift up your lovely eyes and look.
From Wind Pictures by Mary O’Neill
I’m going to somewhere gentle.
From Going Somewhere by Felice Holman
I have a secret power, and
From Sunflower Seed by Lilian Moore
I can fly to where the sky begins…
From Finders-Keepers by Cicely Barnes
Into the white fire of a great mystery,
From The Ponds by Mary Oliver
Feel stars and sun and bells singing,
From A Little Girl’s Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks
Swing through the shadows like warm gray whispers…
From Mouse Music by Dahlov Ipcar
Spinning and dancing.
From Dear Snow by Takayo Noda
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free…
From The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
And I consider eternity another possibility.
From When Death Comes by Mary Oliver
You were such a star to me.
From For My Daughter by David Ignatow
Wherever you are
From Squeeze by Heidi Mordhorst
I watch you twinkling
From Dear Stars by Takayo Noda
While you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas.
From The Rider by Naomi Shihab Nye
And wherever I go, it feels as though I never left at all.
From The Secret Place by Dennis Lee
But wherever I go, (
From In This Picture by Myra Cohn Livingston
I will build a palace
Fit for you and me.
From My Valentine by Robert Louis Stevenson