The flame flickers and outside there is steady, quiet rain - the Quad is silent and a few birds sing despite their wetting - inside there is benison: peace within, a placidity unknown to recent times, consigned to history and resurrected. I am more myself in this moment than I have ever been and I have him to thank for such divine living for the quell of heart's yearning the stilling grief, the quiet fire burning in the steady soul, the living pain.next poem