Courage abounds

while trivialities pale

Mercy is guaranteed to all who come near

Within her sight-lines

Special friends, local ministers, acquaintances,

workers at the local supermarket,

yard workers, professors at our local campus, doctors,

dear and hostile neighbors, therapists, the fast-food cashier,

sanitation workers, teachers, auto mechanics, nurses,

animal lovers, and children of all ages.

She acknowledges them,

wrapping her spirit around them,

as she lay in her Hospice bed with her beloved butterflies

on the walls

and takes time to try

to understand

As she heads toward God’s last door.

It is mysterious and impossible to explain how authentic she is

As death knocks, and knocks,

and knocks again

While she, assuming a soldier’s pose of mastery

Begins to make her way

With head slightly lowered

Looking back

She opens the door.

*Latin for “have courage”