Ascension Poem by Daniel Brick

In Memmoriam:
Rosemary Morin

On that Wednesday of her departure
it was as if darkness had descended
and smothered the daylight. It was
as if grief pulled us from a long sleep
of happiness to face fully Rosie's
change from one reality to another.
For us agonized witnesses it was
a confused and angry night which severed
us from her goodness and beauty...
Or so it seemed. But when we raised
our heads, bowed in sorrow, we saw
there was sufficient light: a sliver
of the moon was shining. distant stars
glowed, and in our midst an Angel stood
and burned with holy fire. She had stepped
forth from heavenlight into earthlight.
The Angel folded her massive wings, and
reduced her size to human proportions.
Even her voice became intimate, and it
did not pierce the air but welled up
within us slowly and softly: "Look upward,
and restore your hope. Eternal Life is granted
to those who are elated by God's presence
in all things. You must know what your Rosie
knew throughout her life: The Golden Rule
binds every created thing with themselves,
with their neighbors, and with the three-personed
God. And the fibers that bind the whole of Creation
are animated by this Love. Look upward and you
will see The Ascension, as souls who lived a life of Love
return to the Source of All Love...

A thousand souls were released at once. They floated
slowly upward, gently rolling in a circle, as they rose
into the sky. Their eyes were shining from some source
of light not visible to our mortal eyes. They looked
down on us with compassionate eyes, the tenderest
expressions flitting across their features, and we were
speechless, in wonder, that so much Love could radiate
from human beings. The last thing we saw were their eyes,
even more strangely illuminated than before, blinking
again and again, as if they could not believe what
they were seeing. And each of us saw Rosie rise, blessed
among the blessed, and go beyond the limits of our sight.
We felt her presence settle deeply in our hearts...
And then it was over; the vision closed. The Angel had vanished,
and it was just the blue sky, and the endless depths of space,
and a passing breeze which refreshed us as breezes are meant to do.