By Vance Robbins

5/18/96

Dedicated to Susan

To have held a dove, so soft and small in my hand

Feeling her take a breath

And her tiny heartbeat

As I close my eyes and set her free.

To have touched the cheek of a Princess

Feeling her smile beneath my fingers

And her hair upon my hand

As she looks into my eyes and then turns away.

To have been fanned by the wing of an angel

Feeling a breeze through my hair

And smelling the flowers she disturbed

As she rises to heaven to be carrassed by the clouds.

To have laid beneath the blooms of a magnolia tree

Feeling the grass tickle my neck

And the dew cool my back

As a butterfly lights and sends a petal

to ripple the glass surface of the lake below.

To have been blessed with a love so deep and so wide

Feeling its strength grow with every breath to fill the heart to bursting

As time slowly pulls me forward it fades into a kind memory

to make me smile - through a shed tear.