It was a day that gods grant

only occasionally.

We met at earth’s edge

you, silent, waiting in tidal rocking

of water through reeds,

sky a blue that could not be believed,

the day just waking to the sun’s call

to prayer. And we welcomed each other

in recognition of our common need

to praise land, sea, air

and thank that which had brought all

this into being.

In our mutual understanding,

I gave you my greeting, and you –

a white feather floating

freely on the tide.

RICHARD BRONSON is on the Boards of the LIPC and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association. He is on the faculty of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.