Finally I’ve found you
Up on the distant shore
Now many miles behind me
Seeming still not yet a chore
So I won’t be discouraged
And I won’t sit and pout
I’ll think of how you taught me
That’s not what we’re about
I’ll listen for your whisper
Or to feel your gentle touch
Whether high up in the canopy
Or deep down in the brush
Searching hard to find you
Or a magic treasure chest
That contains a kind of genie
Who grants a wish at my behest
And if he might, and if there was
I would not hesitate
To ask of him for one more day
Then just one more to waste
If I could have another sunrise
I’d trade at least a thousand
If I had to swim an ocean’s length
Or climb the grandest mountain
I’d do it all and even more
To show what you mean to me
I’d do everything I can
To be the man you hoped I’d be
From womb to rest you were my favorite
I said I loved you most
I boasted how we traveled so
About from coast to coast
How you made a man who’s honest
Then you showed him to be strong
Yet it’s better said than done
When your best friend’s long and gone
But looking back, if I could change things
I might only change the sum
Of the quiet misty mornings
Which await the cardinal’s hum
For even though I’ve few regrets
And I’d do the same again
I can’t help but wave across the shore
And remember when
When skies seemed a little bluer
When the grass just a brighter green
When it seemed like we had the world
Waiting to be seen
So we’ll go along together now
You there right by my side
And when I hear the cardinal’s song
In my heart you will reside
I wrote this poem, The Cardinal’s Song, in memory of Susan Sweeney, Nancy Sheehan and Karen Byrnes and would like to dedicate it to all those who have lost loved ones most dear to them. May this Holiday Season remind us all of what is most important in our lives, our family.
