To Our Dear Marie Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

ToOur Dear Marie
How did I come to know this beautiful woman
In curly hair, who smiles in spite of pain
Who writeswithout let up
and buriesher sorrow in verses with tears?

Howcan oneignore her voice
That tells the truth about life's struggles
About courage and endurance
About hope that makes life worthwhile?

O, dear Marie, at last you surrender
Your last breath on the final scene
When you encounter peace and beauty
Also in silence when your struggles end.

Thanks for your life of goodness
Thanks for your poems of hope
Thanks for your life, a witness to truth
To that hope that one can take
even toone'sown grave.
______________



Marie, died after her longbattle of cancer but during
the years of her illness, she continued to write poems.