The vanishing life

(This poem is dedicated to the beautifully lyrical music of rapture and redemption which this young Californian produced prior to her tragic death by heroin in 1979.)

She’s the shadow of a shadow,
She’s the smile upon her face,
She’s tantalising, like music,
Released from time and space.

Her image is a mirror,
Of glance and glimpse and gleam
On St Agnes Eve pursuing
The remnants of her dream.

We track her down the by-ways
Of yearning and despair
But at the sound of foot-fall
She’ll vanish in thin air.

But in the ways of poets
Such images of air
Take on a Mighty Working
Ethereal and rare.