Requiem for Joanne

 

Now that you have slid into that last dream

before leaving this world of ours behind,

the secrets that you held are at last revealed.

Some will wonder why you kept so much

to yourself, alone, or worry that they may

have changed the outcome for you.

I marvel at the bravery of choosing

to suffer alone, defending those you loved

from the pain of watching you go

with a courage even brighter than the one

that shone from you every time we met.

I'm told you asked for me near the end

of your waking, as you may have recalled

the many times I told you that all of this

is only a dream we dream we are dreaming.

I hear your good-bye, dear friend, and feel

the love you leave here for those who shared

your path.
 

I bid you go, now, and slip into that sea of love

where there are no secrets, only truth and peace.

As we all must, in time, I will join you there,

and ask that you greet me, setting free, too, 

the secrets that I carry, to be left behind in

this dreaming world, as I slip in to that same
sea of love, where secrets no longer matter
and everything is at last, revealed.

Bon voyage, my dear, dear friend.
Rest well, and know that my tears fall

only for those you have left behind.
You have gone on to a state of grace

even greater than the one you carried

with you while you were here with us.

For J.E.; June 2012