Reminder
Each March 23rd is another reminder
a marker
of another year you could not teach your students to read
a year you could not see your daughters become women
a year you could not tell them
how you love them, how proud you are of them.
Another sorrowful year you could not say that you left them too soon,
and did not leave their father soon enough.
Another year marking, like a stone in the prairie earth,
the silence of coroner, clergy, and community, because
"it was too terrible to think about."
Another year with the loss too terrible to live with.
Yet we do. We live.
And we remember you.
We remember your mothering care for children, students,
and yes, for your husband.
We remember your voice, singing "How Great Thou Art" for all to hear.
We remember that even this day, you would speak with prophet's voice,
"As I live,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live;
turn back, turn back from your evil ways,
for why would you choose death?"
We remember you would choose life.
Written May 3, 2024, for an opening ritual for a gathering of abuse intervention peer mentors.
The prophet's declaration is adapted from Ezekiel 33:11.
Credits:
Julie Raasch. (2010). Green Prairie Cemetery, edited.
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