New Beginnings

A single moment’s distraction.

My fancy went left – she was lovely;

My body turned right,

I was 20.

It was over quickly.

A sigh slipping from my lips;

A final breath fading with the world,

Until all that remained was darkness.

I found myself alone.

Not a single image for comfort,

Nor a glimmer of light or breath of air

Was there to soothe me in this void.

Yet somewhere, unseen, were voices.

Whisperings about me as if I were gone –

“Dreams unfulfilled. A journey too brief.

But in death, he can change lives.”

Harsh reality! Engulf me with regret

For a life incomplete and now ending.

With faceless words I could not understand.

I’ve lost one world and am now lost in another.

Overpowering despair threatening my sanity;

Until miraculous visions begin filling my canvas

With strangers and strange places

Of other lives I both saw and was sharing.

I felt my heart beating in the chest of one

Facing a strange mountain.

A climb once thought insurmountable.

Now one she and I are conquering together.

My eyes are now windows to a world

Once limited to shadows and voices;

Of ancient hands lifting a grandchild

Whose smile is our shared sight.

A beautiful daughter whose life was shattered

By the mindless rage of a bullet.

We reach now, together, for a future

Of renewed strength and courage.

There is one, whose spirit matches the frontier she loves,

Who fell from the sky and broke upon the land.

Now we walk the salmon choked streams together

And caress pristine skies on stronger wings.

I cannot count the lives I now share.

Or the hopes and beauty of futures reforged.

These images have washed away my fears,

Bringing meaning to my short life and to others.

I would remain with them gladly,

Sharing futures we thought we lost.

But a light, warm and caring, has opened before me.

It is calling me home.