I have been buried in books these days – have read about 1000 pages of pretty dense stuff for future writing projects already this year! It means that poems are my outlet of choice for writing in the moment.

This one comes from two weeks ago when Margaret sand at the funeral for Bernice, our neighbor kitty-corner across the street. Bernice died on New Year’s Day just two weeks shy of turning 103. Margaret had gone over and sung Christmas carols to her a couple times while she was in home hospice in the weeks before Christmas. So when she offered to sing at the funeral, Bernice’s daughter was very glad … and asked her to sing several solos. As she sang from the balcony at Jehovah Lutheran Church, on a day of celebration and sorrow, I sat in the sanctuary below and the stirrings of this poem came to me.