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”
Comments