SPIRIT WINGS

Joy surfaced as we sang,
I the boy soprano, she a strong alto:

Some glad morning when this life is o’er,
I’ll fly away. . .

She lived a sojourner’s life
and knew of its final flight
rehearsed in cheerful songs of death

whose meanings took no form
until I saw her shriveling body
becoming less and less
a house for her soul:

The vision of flight
had joined her faith to a future
in the terrors and tests of living,
now at her imminent death.

As her tumbledown home gave way,
I sang for her:

Just a few more weary days and then
I’ll fly away. . .

The weathered door to her robust soul
opened toward the rising sun;
her spirit-wings arched,
she was ready to fly, fly

To that land where joys shall never end;
I’ll fly away.

THE OCCASIONAL FIRE

POEMS
Life Scroll
Spirit Wings
Death in the Family
Flight Chief
Legacy
Honeymoon Photo, October, 1939
49 Chevy
The Seed of Me
Land of Rest
On Allison's Leaving
Telecom's Bequest
Starbucks, Tuesday, 3:36 p.m.
Action Still
Vital Meaning
Fools

HYMNS
God will not let us go
The rising sun blazed out of night
Light! Light! A shattering light
Worship the Lord
As a doe

ABOUT MARK RHOADS