AT THE CROSSROADS

Now we come to the parting

Of the ways,

Death from life.

Where you are going,

I cannot follow.

It’s a comfort, at least,

That you two will travel together

On the last leg of the journey.

I won’t say you’re “going on

To a better place;”

You’ve heard all the cliches,

You know them all by heart.

But I don’t know

How to describe your destination

Without the cliches.

No one knows what lies ahead for you;

None who travel this road

Return to tell the tale.

There are no maps, only

Your own imagination.

And so we must part.

I wish you didn’t have to go.

I’ll miss you both

So very much.

It’s so hard

Not to have someone there

All of a sudden.

It’s so hard to lose someone

Who’s walked the road with you

For so long.

But what’s harder is the pain

You suffer, and have suffered,

And the pain reflected

On my mother’s face.

Every night I pray for the suffering

To end.

It is almost certain

That you will find relief

Where you’re headed;

Relief and something more.

Someone very special

Will be there to welcome you home.

I think he’ll be glad to see you.

Give him my love.

For Martha Mortell and Eileen “Nana” Mortell

March, 1991