The Silence of Zoe
by Rena Patrick
(written in honour of Zoe Cassidy)
Picking up Zoe on the roads
Always made me smile
With outrageous humor and hope
That there’s some free spirits coming up in the younger generation
Who sees walls and fences placed in his path
As another blank canvas
With which to add a touch of color
A flair for the outrageous
An imagination of greater depth
These are just surface impressions of the man
I did not know him well
Just a few ways our paths crossed on this island
And when they happened to cross
Zoe Cassidy always brightened my day
Reminding me of the times when I saw the world
as a blank canvas with magic imagination
When steel boxes were a surface to which color and character must be added
now lost years too soon
on his way from this world,
his presence, or his absence
strikes my heart with the importance of treasuring each day
in its own special way
And not letting it all get taken away
By the things that bring us down.
The silence of Zoe speaks loudest of spotting the brilliance
In this first sunny day after weeks of rain
OF not letting the flood waters of your sadness carry you away.
But seize what you can to treasure in life
hold close the moments of each day
How the things in life that cheer our hearts
need to be honoured,
held close and treasured
How delicate the enthusiasm that keeps us alive
is such a fine line
Whispered to me in the silence of Zoe