The Welsh poet

The Welsh poet
said of his mother
who "left the world"
last week
"She was never dead
in or out of it."
He shows me a beautiful Indian bird
red with yellow dots on it:
Happiness. Beauty. Art.
--That bird seems to like you.
--Yes, that bird knows
there's not much time.
The mother has a gold body now.

-- Jean Valentine
Door in the Mountain: New & Collected Poems