Soul Deep

She laughs in the wake of danger;
she has the spirit of a child
and the wisdom of a weathered woman.

Her eyes see beyond the horizon
and her smile warms the earth. 

Her heart holds sorrows beyond her years
but she keeps them wrapped in silk
and cherishes them like jewels.

She says they make her stronger, 
and she'll never toss them away. 

And she loves
with a depth of soul that overwhelms her,
but it only makes her smile more bright.

I don't know her, and I am nothing like her;
yet I am everything she is. 


september 2005
Janet Reid