GLORY

I've seen dozens
Maybe hundreds go
From being here to
Not being here.

I wept with so many of their
loved and not-so-loved ones,
nothing false in my tears as a matter

of fact tears were
the most genuine gifts I
Could have offered,
   then
             or
                     now.

None of it mattered when I
found you there, your
head resting atop hospital
pillows, cannula piping
oxygen to failing lungs,

You too far gone to do more than  

open one eye, peering out at

us like an aquanaut surveying the

ocean floor from your bathyscaphe

While we surrounded you,
Crowding in upon one another as we took

turns climbing onto 
your bed to lie next to you, 

having our pictures taken with you

reaching for one more proof of your life

among us, perhaps unconsciously documenting
your desperate need to quit this chamber of horrors,

Even as another cloud of witnesses waited

patiently, quietly smiling love to you, midwifing

you out of this desperate corruption,

into glory.

R. Mark Grace

Copyright 2012

Photo Credit: www.crosscards.com