Death of a Friend

by Virginia M. Kimball, S.T.D.

Her death came at three o'clock
as she prayed the chaplet
of divine mercy.

Her bed was transitory
decked with disease
and she waited.

When a saint passes,
touching our days,
we pause and wonder.

A gift for Lent this death
as God's dear woman left
but still stays.

She lingers in our memory,
teaches us living
in her demise.

She weaves hope and joy
on the bed she died
before our eyes.

Death is a sleep in her
bright eye of faith -
sealed, swollen.

She begged her Mother
waiting and smiling
for her return.

A rosary in frail bruised hand
Presence in her heart
life forever won.

Glory in a Lenten lesson
Christ's victory:
longed for end.

I'll always remember Jean
in this March gospel
Love coming during mourning
God's Light in a dark day
Jean lives Life forever ...
Death by death destroyed
and Christ the only way.

May her memory be eternal!