still is within our hearts

 Adrian Menapace

for over 50 years I worked with middle school students,

all in the throes of developmental change,

change that was mostly of growth, of empowerment,

of the release of potential into actuality,

I watch a slideshow of the life of a former student,

who should be getting ready to celebrate her 65th birthday,

but who instead died a reality that took her away from us,

I watch a slideshow of snapshots of her life,

her bright eyes, her beaming smile,

her joy in the moments of family, of friends,

of life fully appreciated and embraced,

it throbs before me like a heartbeat,

beats surely like a clock:

enigmatic messages that can't decide

what they're saying:

is each passing beat of loss or of joy transcendent,

denying the chasm below and grasping 

at the peaks of rightness before us and within our hopes?

Adrian moved past our relationship of teacher-student,

and rightly into making her own way 

into tomorrows with those she loved,

and however she might still manifest in the universe,

I hope the universe appreciates her as do we,

we who miss the vibrant reality of who she was,

and of who we can hope she still is,

she certainly still is within our hearts.

by Henry H. Walker

June 13, ‘26