ODE TO A WOMAN

All that which time paints on your regal face,

Is so designed by a skillful artists quill,

For what time draws are folds outlined in grace,

That mark your skin where beauty lingers still.

There drawn are all the pathways of your life,

Each mapping progress of a faultless love.

Through all those years a Mother and a wife,

Clothed in the spirit of our God above.

Your beauty scribed by time may seem to leave,

But yet more perfect doth time make thee look,

For loves true growth cannot my heart deceive,

For every contour scribes sweet wisdom’s book,

With faultless love which faithful souls display,

That never with the body will decay.

© Colin F Jones 05 May 02