09/26/2025
We are coming upon the year anniversary when Helene came barreling through West North Carolina and upper East Tennessee. Helene had no mercy but set about to do what raging wind and flood waters do: blow and wash away what was, taking many beloved humans away from this earth, their journeys brought to a brutal end. And then the new had to begin again. This poem I saw on Ms. Byron Ballard's post sums up a thoughtful prayer of a life lived, lost, and those who remain behind for the present moment. Keep North Carolina and East Tennessee in your thoughts the next few days. The rain is coming down there, and folks are a little jittery:
The Sun has set and I am sitting vigil tonight. I will do that for the next three evenings, just after the Sun dips below the western mountains. I invite you to add the names of loved ones--people, places--lost as a result of Helene's devastation.
Deep breath. All love.
A Prayer for the Dead
You have come to the end of this pathway
In a journey to which we bear witness.
You have come to the end of a pathway
That is barred with a gate and a door.
May this door open swiftly and silently.
May this gate give you a moment’s grace
In which to rest your spirit before you venture through.
We stand here with you, as your companions,
As your family, for you are beloved.
But, for now, we must remain here.
We can not go with you to this old land.
Not yet.
For you will see the Ancestors.
You will see the Beloved Dead.
You will walk among the Divine Beings
That guide and nurture us all.
You go to dwell in the lands
Of summer and of apples
where we dance
forever youthful, forever free.
We can hear the music in the mist
The drums that echo our sad hearts.
We can see your bright eyes and your smile.
And so we open the gate.
We push back the door.
We hold the gate open.
We glance through the doorway,
And with love and grief and wonder
We watch you walk through.
Hail the Traveler!
All those remembered in love, in honor,
Live on.
Farewell, o best loved,
O fairest,
Farewell.
