Shining whiter
than the naked moon,
The light of
everlasting life that hails
To those whose
service here on earth is done,
Took from us,
in time’s own truth, a saint,
Forth from whose
lips would not a curse be heard,
No sentence such
composed of idle words.
Enveloped in
the calm of the still point
Between the death
of life and birth of death,
The head reclined
in dignity quiet,
Its rigid beauty
yields the final breath;
A mouth ajar
awaits the first sweet taste
Of nourishment
from the gods own heavenly kiss.
This time and
toil shall toll not on our love
Though life and
its lies must ever remain.
This side of
the sun where we lay you to rest
Its joys for
we few diminish this day;
Have faded their
hues to mark our respect
For the passing
of one whom words cannot match.
Seven years shy
of the peddler’s prediction,
On recognition
of your summerlong charges,
A stranger’s
tears took a loved one to leaving;
A daughter’s
devotion shall sing through the ages;
A husband’s
hands hold a beloved in death -
The eternal slumber
that you have been blessed.
