A place of names/a place of remembrance/woven into the daily vista of life/never empty/never lost/dry eyes/I remember/you are found

Sometimes/prayer is the sweet soft sigh of surrender/with no other longing/just to be in the center of the storm/near absolute love and surrender/sometimes helpless proximity to the Holy is prayer enough

The questions abound in an early photograph/suggestions of lives lived/long ago and far away/dignity and strength come down to us as a legacy/an inherited steady gaze/ an imagined utterance of courage and caution

Sometimes I just sit/with remembrance close at hand/the clock on the wall whirls on/the light of eternity on one side/the shade of ever present sorrow on the other/ and so I sit/until/resolute/I stand

My friend could see me with unseeing eyes/he used his heart and mind/my friend had a way of talking/ the way he held his head spread his fingers/of putting words together/ smooth timbre that made/crowds listen/my friend invested in the lives of others/found joy in our joy/and solace to us he gave/my friend was friend to all/a warrior of faith and justice/my friend went everywhere the eye could not see/and now my friend sleeps/waits for us where we cannot see/at peace

On a day we glorify battle/honor the memories/grieve the lost/remember I do/ one I never knew/ Mum’s Dad/served in both World Wars/as an airplane mechanic/raised six children through a worldwide depression/loved/laughed/died of a broken heart/wondering/ what do we fight for/and what do we win?

There is a right side and a wrong side to some pieces/rough unfinished smooth complete/art of daily living/layer and weave/layer and weave/make your choices a form of art

My other beautiful Aunt/did everything I wanted to grow up to do/drove her own zippy car/fought toe to toe with my unapproachable father/had a song in her voice of a faraway island home/wore bangles that made music/laughed sometimes like the foolish ways of childhood were a surprise/knew the way of hard work/knew the way of devotion/had a look of disapproval that could rewrite history/made me marvel at her strong elegance/and spicy soul

I was blessed with an abundance of Uncles/a beautiful duet of Aunts/ grandfather and his eldest daughter/a trip home/an island home/a sojourner makes landing/ home/holds on tight/after days upon nights of dreaming/so many arrivals in the dark tear strewn/arrivals that always slipped away

A father’s memories poured out/a salty seaman/yearning for another voyage/landlocked/would tell of walking the length of Manhattan island/jobs on boards with a suit size/walking for a job/his hands as he gestured a chop across the wrist/you had to be able to fit the uniform/ but I said let me please and they let me carry it to a tailor/ and got the job/and the look in a proud mans eyes as he told the story twice and his hand gnarled now keeps sawing at the wrist/I got the job/but I also saw the hope for us and fear for us/even as I sighed yes Daddy/you told us that story before/he’d take it up a notch and tell it again