For Edmund
Breathe deep, it’s only the first.
Many more await.
Soon you will greet the winter air,
Catch icy flakes upon your lips
As chilled winds pass
In, and out again.
Then you will find the Spring,
Cool and fragrant after a morning rain;
And summer will embrace you
With its gentle breeze,
Brush the sun’s hot rays
Off your closed eyelids
As you lure a drowsy breath
In, and out again.
Autumn will paint the skyline in warmth,
Send playful gusts along your path,
Blanketing it with tumbling color.
North and south winds
Will carry each breath
As life will carry you.
Think of where the winds go —
Dancing, pulling clouds across the sky —
From the quivering poppy fields in France,
To the Rocky’s sweeping aspen groves;
Over frosted Himalayan heights, and
Between Gibraltar’s straight,
Low and tossed with sea mist.
There and everywhere
Will the wind carry your breath,
To every corner of this grand earth
Until you’ve breathed it all.
C’est un monde grand, chéri—
Alors, vis avec chaque souffle.