Isn’t it strange when I got the call

I was working on something important

But something I hope will never be needed

While you were about to lose it all

I prayed for you while I clicked the keyboard

I had a heavy feeling in my gut that time was short

The log-in info, the passwords, the key things he’d need to know

I thought of it all as your breathing slowed

I couldn’t be there to have my heart torn out

Other compassionate ones were

You were guided to heaven in a medicated blur

No longer to hurt or to be afraid

I prefer to think about other things

You standing on the picnic table

Chewing a stuffed squirrel

Or showing that goofy-full-of-life smile

Running on the beach, swimming like a seal

For all those moments I am so grateful

I guess death is the means to re-birth

You know, I believe God is committed to His good earth

There’s a transition we all will go through

What happened to Lazarus and his sisters

Jesus wept

His friends later wept for Him

But there’s a song in the end

Like a tragedy turned upside down

So I think of the victory – your life

And Eden

So we go to the beach and I feel a little more even

Later I finish that important project on my laptop

It must be completed because I don’t know when my heart will stop

I save it and print

Put it in the safe for my love, my husband

I tell him it’s there

We hold each other close, with our dog

And we go for a walk in the cold air

Living life, taking time to make a death file

Is like a game of truth or dare