In your kindness remember Susie, fallen asleep five years ago tomorrow. May God grant her peaceful repose.
I share this composition in her memory.
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I Thought of You Today
Has it been that long since I said goodbye,
the day you died?
I remember you, frail, white-haired, wrinkled,
struggling to breathe, fighting your last fight,
loved ones at your bedside on your final night,
then your breathing stopped and you took to flight.
I missed you so much, Grandma, my soul sorrow glazed.
I thought of you, five years later, and cried today.
I remember you, in the hospital after the stroke,
a piece of you died then, you'd never walk again.
The one I knew and loved would continue to fade away
into life's mysterious dusk, the sojourn's end.
Life's worries you exchanged for the quiet of the tomb.
We returned you to sleep in the earth's tranquil womb.
I remember you, covering my small body with your
fur coat as I lay down on the couch, listening to your tales,
taking trips in your big, green car to the bakery and
the grocery store in search of various items on sale.
Beloved one, precious soul, fret no more, you're free!
Forever joy be yours. Eternal be your memory.
I have not fogotten you, Grandma, and I never will.
I hope you found the peace you were on earth denied--
no longer old and broken, but radiant and luminous as a star.
It's five years later. I thought of you today and cried.