Her rings still held her warmth
As they fell to his hand
The doctor said, "there's no more we could do"
And he was worried at first that he did not understand
But then he saw his fist close
So he knew

And we watched from the window
As he walked slowly outside
He seemed unsure as to which way to go
And his coat whipped his legs
As the traffic blew by
He had one shoulder raised
As though to ward off a blow

And he lay in their bedroom
Those first sleepless nights
Too restless to sleep and too tired to cry
And he'd wander downstairs
In the pale morning light
To stare at the horizon with unseeing eyes

His neighbours worried about him
Those first desperate weeks
He seemed to dwindle and shrink in his clothes
And in the evenings
He'd wander the hills by himself
To return as the morning sun rose

The grass shook and swayed in the meadow
As he stood in the night
And he heard the dry whisper of leaves
And the wind was her spirit
Running free through the grass
Whispering warm in his ear "don't you grieve"

He was seen kneeling last Friday
On a high windswept hill
And his white hair blew back in the breeze
And we thought he was praying
Or had taken a fall
But he was planting a row of small trees