to appreciate the whole person

caught between spirit and flesh

a person passes,

and I seek to honor them:

to know them as fully as I can,

both in the wholeness with which each could act,

and in how each could deal with the pain, the wounds,

with which each also lived,

each of us does the best he can, the best she can,

I seek to honor how well another could move forward,

with all that worked to slow him, to slow her down,

for maybe then we can be gentler on ourselves

as we move forward, despite our wounds,

maybe sometimes because of our wounds.

by Henry H. Walker

August 11, ‘16