hello everybody,
My heart is heavy this morning. A dear dear friend and brother just lost his daddy yesterday. Over the last couple of months, one friend or the other, one brother or sister has watched death descend, most times without warning, like a starving eagle and snatch with mind blowing precision one loved one or another, flying away with prey secured in its sinewy grip, across the chasm to eternity, to the great vast beyond. We lose on this side, eternity gains... and in a weird way death is a cruel teacher, reminding us with the rod of stinging loss, about the brevity of our days, the frailty of our lives, the wretchedness of our estate, the powerlessness of our being before that final breath at our nostrils; it reminds us above all that we must cherish one another NOW for the next second does not belong to us. Let us seize now and love one another - we do not have the luxury of waiting for the next moment, for we have no guarantee of it. Even as their departure strikes a painful melancholic chord, I can imagine these loved ones saying... I hope this encourages somebody. Jesus makes all the difference in a time like this.
A better place.
I lay down in the coffin,
My body lifeless like a muffin,
Slowly dragged in a hearse,
Pulled by a tender gentle horse,
Right around the bend,
To my earthly end,
To unite again with dust,
Every man and woman's inevitable must,
Though my mourners think it is a lifeless me they see,
I was long gone from that body to where the Savior I see,
Together with angels and loved ones before HIM we sing,
A place where even wasps and bees don't sting,
Take away the frown and wipe the tear on your face,
I am in a better place.
© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary
