The girl I left behind me, a soldier's wife,
      who knew loneliness,
Responsibility for two trusting toddlers
      waiting for the soldier to return.
Seamstress, hand weaver, potter, welder,
      crafter of glass, photographer,
All these knew your mastery.
But the dearest memory calls you, Buddy,
      kinship of the trails we hiked;
Shared wonders of coral reefs beneath the
      tropic seas,
Kelp forests off Monterey, sea turtles and morays off Diamond Head;
Nordic skiing on mountain meadows and around the lake at Solitude Resort;
Spring in the desert, wondrous awakening of life in that stark land;
Riding buses in Cancun, the walk along Estero each in the moonlight;
Serenaders playing guitars and singing "Mi Amor;"
My Buddy, these are some of the joys we shared;
My Buddy who sleeps in the ocean deeps.

John Partanen