Somebody's gone in the night
And she will not come again
Her necklaces hang from the mirror still:
Amber beads and abalone shell
This cowry on its silver chain
That lay at her breast for years
—So we make beauty from what once was alive

Somebody's gone in the night
And she will not come again
Her photo smiles from the old pine chest
She found discarded in the coal-house
Stripped away the yellowing paint, replaced
Cracked plastic handles with new brass
Waxed and buffed the wood to an antique shine
—So she made beauty from what once was unloved

Somebody's gone in the night
And she will not come again
All future time spreads endless beneath the sky
And she is not in it
Yet the world is touched in every detail
By her hand, by her thought
I measure my worth most in her love for me
And measure hers in the ways she taught me to see
—So she made beauty from what once was unknown

Somebody's gone in the night
And she will not come again
—Only her beauty, the beauty she lived, remains