Jane’s Beautiful Soul

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

— In memory of Jane Brown

William Waterway