If
you want to know
who truly loves you
read the letters of
dead men

Go ahead
thumb through ink stained pages
bundled with blue ribbons
Remember
angels in the snow
homemade strawberry jam
and
your daughter's 4th grade play

This man forever lost to you
he is still here....he is everywhere

You can find him in faces
of ancestors,
scowling at you from
portraits hung in empty halls
and
hear your sweetheart's voice ring clear
beneath your children's laughter
Is that not perhaps,
the sweetest sound of all?


Tell his stories at the table
pass them on as cherished gifts
choose not to mourn his dying
embrace instead
a treasure trove
ten thousand reasons to celebrate
remembering to honor
a life well lived