! A Lady Beyond Death Poem by Michael Shepherd

She’s dying.
She’s had two heart attacks,
they say the third, the fatal one,
could come at any time.

But she’s on her feet or sitting,
talking of things different.

Her husband - his love already
has taken him beyond grief – smiles, says,
she’s somewhere between earth and heaven..

but I’m awed by her. She shines.
So this is just a hint of what
an angel is. A whiteness in the air
around her; she’s like a young girl,
yet beyond life, and yet again,
younger than a life; unsullied.

She’s somewhere, not between earth and heaven,
but somewhere where earth and heaven
meet, share their secret, know they’re one.

She smiles towards me;
she's just – a presence.