Newspaper notices
have been written
and published
for two funerals and a wedding
back to back
in our circle
of family and friends.

A longtime family friend,
as close as a relative,
gone at eighty-nine
soon after her Valentine's Day birthday.

Meres may have taken in
the grand celebrations
at her nursing home, but
with her Alzheimer’s, who knows?
And then the fatal stroke
followed that night.

Jacques, our brother-in-law and uncle to our young,
just fifty-four,(in fact he knew Meres well too),
gone two days later,
from his extensive battle with cancer,
soon after his night nurse
on her first drive to his house
sighted near the highway
a white wolf on the run,
symbol of fighting prowess, courage
and endurance.

All of these turns of events
came just as the long engagement
of our son Eric’s wedding to Julie
is reaching its climax
and the multitude of plans
culminating into reality
following the long dream.

Flower arrangements
invitations and head counts,
readings and music picked out,
performers readying
ceremonies and prayers
attire selected,
photograph collages,
drives and refreshments
meshing all together
in a mosaic of these loved ones of mine
meeting their turning-points
within days
and gently jostling one another in fate’s dance
(at times soft and easy, with a natural flow
at others pressing, passionate and desperate)
upon my mind,

making my minister’s earlier invitation
for a pot of coffee and a visit
a chance to cry for grief, relief,
grace for the circle of life
and death
and the permission
for future joy,
a welcome plan
on my agenda now.

02/25/2005