30 April 2019

The Resurrection and the Life

She prayed for miraculous healing
As her pale, thin, cough-racked body
Slid slowly deathward.
Thank Jesus for restoring my body,
She said, and her pulmonary function 
Slipped a little more, and then
Pneumonia came:
Thick ropes of mucous, 
Unending breath-battles,
More medication, 
The few, futile, final,
Heartbreakingly hopeful breaths.
Pray for my resurrection, 
She told her father before 
Passing beyond the rails
Of her last hospital bed,
Beyond her lifelong breathing treatments,
Beyond years of prayers and pain 
That ended, after all,
As all mortal flesh does.

I miss my friend, of course. 
And yet I believe that she has received 
The outrageous miraculous healing 
Her deathbed faith foresaw.
Tribulation-born hope 
Has not disappointed her; 
She is breathing easy at last
In the arms of her great Lover.
And so I do pray for her resurrection 
As I pray for my own,
And that of the whole world:
May this seed planted in sorrow
Rest in perfect peace 
Until the time comes
To yield its joyful living crop
On the day of glorious harvest.

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