April 27 - At the Exit Door

At the Exit Door

He told me, "At least he had an easy passing."

   Meaning it to comfort me, to pad my shock and grief

By suggesting that a speedy death is best;

   Quick, clean - life moving stealthily off planet like a thief.

I do not hold with that and when I go, I shall not slip away,

   I hope to live my life and leave a jagged hole behind

Where I am missing from the lives of those I love,

   An empty space; my absence something that they mind.

Tracy faced a world constricted much by circumstance,

   But from behind the walls her reach extended

To a wider world that knew her very well and loved her

   For her mind and for the soul whose run has not yet ended.

Micah lumbered through this life - a presence indomitable.

   An elvish soul striding the wide world in giant's shoes.

But kneeling down to touch a hundred tiny lives – responsible, self set aside

   The kind of life you live, not what you want but rather what you choose.

These are the kinds of missing souls for whom we grieve.

   Too little time among us, they left us wanting more.

It's good then that God has marked them in His books and that

   They left their muddy prints upon the mat, there at life's exit door.

© 2014 by Tom King