May we depart with grace
In our proper time and season
When we have grown ripe as fruit
Broken open to shower seed
Upon the attendant ground.
May we give back generously
As we have generously been given: breath
to gentle and refresh the earth
And smooth back the azure heaven.
May our life’s breath mingle with the Breath of Life
As a river flowing into the Great Sea,
Not dissolving into nothingness
But becoming more than what it was:
Living waters threading a current
Through the water womb of promise, fullness,
the completeness of peace.
May we find peace ourselves
In our proper time and season.
Until that day may we cherish beloved memory
Not as loss, but as sustenance
And a source of joy’s endurance.
Published in Poems