A Gift

Where was she before her first day?
Some questions cannot be answered.

Where is she now? That one's easy.
She is in thoughts, a protected place.

To receive the gift of life,
we must accept that the gift ends.

But what we were does not end;
what we did with the gift is permanent.

Before life, there is only darkness:
Good riddance to that.

After life, there is the sweetness
of sunlight sparkling on water.

For Whitney deMoraes Hendrickson, 1990-2009


Gregg Easterbrook sent me this beautiful poem on March 20, 2009.