Deep within the funeral night,
I wait beside an empty doorway
Beneath a windblown light.
Votive candles burning bright –
I cup my hands to hold the glow
Deep within the funeral night.
Enduring all without respite –
Bedpans, needles, others’ hands –
Beneath a windblown light.
Full of Grace – Mary, Mary’s rites-
Citronella candles waver
Deep within the funeral night.
Wind’s raven wings give shadows flight –
Driving, slanting, piercing raindrops,
Beneath a windblown light.
No pledge of life or coming dawn,
No whispered prayer or fading song,
Deep within the funeral night,
Beneath this swaying windblown light.
Upon the death of a cloistered sister (poet’s note).
