Death

When you come death, may you be recognized and celebrated.
With your seductive face, gentle whispers,
and your unspoken promise
Let there be no fear as your steady hand
unlocks a new mystery
A mystery so vast and unfathomable that to begin to speak
of its depth is only to play the first note
in a never-ending symphony.
In you life joins hands.
May you be welcomed as a friend
for indeed you have been a companion to life
None is promised even a moment.
To exist, that is our gift.
All is so precious
The days I have shared
have been more than enough
Just this, Just this, Just this.

I witnessed from a distance a friend stoically rooted
to his family, community, the earth,
take your hand as you guided him across the threshold.
He faced you with such courage and compassion
And though his physical body shriveled as the cancer ravaged his insides
his belonging and his wholeness expanded beyond measure
We are not what we seem. There are no limits.
We all glowed in that presence.
And yet we grieve in that absence.

Death you will come for us all
And for all our scientific advances
The hour of your touch still eludes.
When the hour of your beckoning comes, may it be known that
the meaning of life, is life itself, no more, no less
May that which is here, revel, knowing that the love which came
through this, is this, played enchanting cadenzas while it lasted.
And may that which still plays be comforted by the cycle
of beauty in the inherited melody currently sung
but one day relinquished too.