Family Emergency Against The Panikhida Service Poem by Bill Grace

Wife with mother in a peril of potential death
Girth of a continent away
Daughter kicks against sleep and me with her all
House floating the great chair is at last a pseudo prize.
And the melodies of church chant from her native land
It soothes though I can not understand a word
It sooths as it is her native tongue
Nine and fifty nine year old in meeting
Brings me to a space I can not name.
Brings us to a peace in prelude
To sleep as a forgiving drug.