~

an arrival obscure
white package austere
makes its debut with the daily post;
an advent surreal
no ordinary mail
this addressed to his last known abode.

how could they have know
he’d moved up in this world
to a parcel up high on a hill;
where the air is more clean
the grass there grows green
adorned with granite and daffodil.

“Overdraft Settlement” it read
“a few years overdue,” i said!
softly weeping, his mother’s response.
over-burdened, and under a cloud
fervent prayers she utters aloud
yet nothing but silence from that “beyond.”

no settlement, no check can ever replace
the comfort she seeks in seeing his face,
what she would trade for one last goodbye;
each daybreak one closer to final sunset
she searches for answers she doubts she will get,
yet each morning she rises with a hope of reply.

but maybe, it is just this...
a “reply” as good as it gets;
these messages showing that he’s not forgotten.
though perhaps meager the payment,
like a gift of heaven-scent,
each a reminder, his presence from heaven.


~ postscript ~

party to a class action for exorbitant overdraft fees, a settlement check arrived this week with his name on it.  it is five long years since we laid him to rest, yet it is reminders like this that can leave us short of breath and stir up every imaginable emotion we have felt in this loss.  but, if we still our hearts and quiet our minds we can see hope, like a sliver of sun ray breaking through a ceiling of dark clouds, shining down from heaven to give us a reminder of him… his presence from heaven.

(kind of like my new cover page photo)