Benediction

All my life she told me stories,
not tales, but histories.

I only half listened,
as her words wound around
like scissors cutting out paper dolls.
Then she’d clothe them in honour
introducing each to me
so I could know them too.

But not until I walked with her
through the graveyard in her hometown,
and saw the names etched in stone rows,
did I understand – belonging
was the gift she was giving:
Laura Gertrude, my grandma
sharing a marker with her husband
like a double bed. Mom’s sister Shirley,
my doppelgänger, who died too young,
resting nearby — surrounded by
great grandmothers and fathers,
uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, neighbors
gathered, shoulder to shoulder
as if on wooden pews waiting
for church to begin.

We are the living; they are the faithful.
I stand, respectfully at the back
as they rise to welcome Mom.
Joyce! Come in! We’re just getting started.
She is gathered in and belongs;
the peace of Christ passes from hand to hand.

I can only watch –
she’s gone beyond me now.
Peace will come
with the benediction.

© – June 1, 2018 Laurel Archer

In memory of Joyce Marie Shram (Bigam) born: Sept 19, 1926, died June 1, 2018 ; faithful woman, wife, mother, daughter, aunt, friend, entreprneur, witness, story teller, cheerleader, prone to spontaneity and laughter, clothed in scarlet and other fine garments.

Photos:  Featured – Blind Man Valley, Alberta; Headstone, Bentley Cemetery; Tunnel Trans Canada Hwy