Jane Brown's Beautiful Soul Poem by William Waterway

to experience the Vineyard’s magical majesty
to see the idiosyncracies of each backyard tree
to look at our island’s night sky as always new
to talk to her dog, Mac, as though to me and you

in one of Jane’s poems entitled “My Trees”
she hears “screeching sound of saws on trees”
so roads can be made and houses built
in forest where she and a boy once walked
“to look for birds, hear their calls, be together”

sitting in her Oak Bluffs home she did ponder
“as oaks and pines fall heavily to the ground
can memories fill where once were trees? ”

in another, Jane anthropomorphizes an oak tree
“You are an oak in the forest – yes, I am an oak
but know enough to bend and sway…to let some
things go I’ve nurtured through each season.”

“Yet I will stand for now
protect and shade
be home to those who come
to live here in my world.”

how blessed are those of us who knew Jane
to be guests in her child-like world of dreams
to be touched by her wit, laughter and smile
to share her secrets of being one with all life
to gather a loving living world within her soul
forever