If there is a singular theme that informs and underlies the diverse poems in this book, it is "compassion." An expansive emotive range is traversed here, from heart-rending tragedy and despair to the sunny light of humour and optimism, and through it all there flows a deep river of compassion for humanity, the world, nature and its wondrous creatures. There is an abiding empathy in these poems and an insightful understanding of the connectedness of all things. If we but open our eyes and hearts sufficiently, we too will share the poet's vision of the world, "as if a million stars were brought to earth."