death and remembrance

out of the dark, toward the light

deep in our hearts
we know things will not last,
that every joyous moment is a wager
surprisingly won against the odds,
we hope for a plan that guides everything,
that takes care of us
with even the most capricious, malevolent events
only so in appearance and really sensical in a Grand Design,

my father died in the middle of his work,
denied the next chapters,
the seeing-through of hopes and visions,
and I see his dropping away as tragic, not purposeful,
as is too much else that comes at us
as dissolution flexes its muscles,













the words from the Knoxville Board of Education
spoke of his legacy as sure to be remembered,

I want with my life to remember,
to echo his belief in young people coming into their selves,
for, as he felt, the only sureness to living past death
is being remembered and honored
as that of God in each of us
reaches back and forward toward the light.









by Henry Walker
July 15, ’10