When I look at the sparkling, winking stars

In their constellations of myriad shapes

On some clear ,balmy night of summer

Trying to shimmer as rays of hope

In a sea of dark dejection and despair

Or at the sublime fragrant lily in resplendent bloom

That smiles with modest sweetness and purity

Amid garrish coloured blooms of the meadows

When I see the tiny sparrow, twitter in delight

As she hops and flies preoccupied with little joys

Unenvious of the melodies inherent in the cuckoo

When I see the docile flocks of sheep, follow

Their leader in complacent subservience

Happy to just follow the lead without rebellion

I recall that lost girl, a faded face

That has left faint fingerprints on canvas of memories

Till she became ephemeral, as a long forgotten dream

But her virtues remain etched on my soul

That simplicity, contentment, modesty, patience and optimism

Such that when she no longger sojourn’s life’s trail

And only an epitaph remains to mark her existence

She remains to me an epiome of virtues…