Some thankyous are best private;
some deserve a public airing,
in case they touch someone else who's suffered:
I wrote a poem about my mother's restless, painful death;
and you, who had just lost your husband
but whose deathbed was a memorable day
as he with cancer and you his wife
had the most beautiful, memorable hours of conversation,
about two rich lives lived together -
you, struck by the contrast, wrote to me
in sympathy. And so, my pain is eased
in sharing in your beautiful sad joy..
and you, I hope, may be the happier for this -
I wonder, do you know what good this brought?
thank you, Margaret.
Michael Shepherd
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-thankyou-to-margaret/