advent journal: poem, too

The spirit

       likes to dress up like this:

            ten fingers,

                 ten toes . . .

(Mary Oliver, “Poem”)

My father-in-law, Reuben Brasher, would have been eighty-one tomorrow; Wednesday marks eight weeks since he died.  I miss him.

poem, too

I think the Spirit
liked to dress up like Reuben:
every ounce of his being saying welcome,
a full-body smile that beamed love;
cobalt eyes as deep as the sky,
and a heart that stayed unlocked
no matter who entered.

his mind disappeared,
but his heart stayed the same –
his heart, and his eyes
the Spirit loved those eyes
because they could see
beyond our mountains of shame
to the clear blue morning in us all.

Peace,
Milton