In Memory of ...

Death is not the close of night
but an entry into the approaching dawn
When the burdens of a dream take flight
and the fear of nightmare's forever gone.

Death, like the decay of dry leaves in a garden
is the final crackling of a brittle stem
Its dust manures the drying grass of autumn
and this final gesture may earn another friend.

Death comes when sun and shadow merge into one
for the shadow must vanish as it enters the Lord
Because life is the shadow of this distant sun
and Death, the proof of this unseen God.

Death brings forth not tears of loss
but the forgotten laughter of a forgotten past
Death shines on life and its charted course
and reminds us that each journey could be our last.