To Shaila

by Ruth Sanford

I cannot always go where you would go nor stop and stay where you have been.

But I can wait beside the path

and be there when you come again,

To see your face

and touch your hand to feel your tears.

I know that land

whcnce your tears come. I, too. have loved

And felt a heart

Beat close to mine that could not stay or be as I would wish

A constant star,

A pulse that alwavs beat with mine.

I, too, have longed for closeness that could not forever be when most I yearned to have it free

and willing, by my side.

I would know your grief I feel your pain as if it were my own and yet it's not.

I can but reach my hand across the chasm of our separateness and share in my own way

The heaviness you bear-the loneliness-and say with all my heart, I care!