If I could have any ability,
it wouldn’t be speed or flying.
What I wish I was able to do
is ably comfort the dying.
To soothe their pain
and remedy their guilt.
To remind them of
the lives they built.
To help reflect on what was,
and ponder what lies ahead:
for those who go on living,
and those who will be dead.
To witness life about them,
in its glorious impermanence,
vibrant diversity, grave sincerity,
and steady, graceful cadence.
It is an honor to have lived
with such feeling and integrity.
The body may be frail,
but not without its dignity.
Of all the people you have met,
I will be the last.
The pain is coming to an end,
soon it’ll all be past.
You’ve conquered the mysteries of life,
but mysteries of death await.
Go in peace, go with love, go with courage
onwards through Heaven’s gate.
