IN OUR HEARTS YOU’VE SET THE WORLD

In memory of our son, Cullen Riley Thompson 11-06-2002

And then, after everything, silence.
Your eyebrows took their color from the fevered leaves
that outside curled to cradles, their descents
rocking through a morning we couldn’t conceive.
Your face, the face of him who helped me rake the leaves
today beneath a pregnant, gray sky.
Too early you came--too soon--too soon to leave
us filled with all we’ll never get to say.

In our hearts you’ve set the world to stay:
your heart, each vault and arch tiny,
immaculate, silent. We’ll wander here an eternity
and run our fingers across the scrollwork and traceries,
carved as fine as a strand of your red hair.
We’ll wander, wonderfully alone, and ready for prayer.

- James Thomas Thompson