For This I Smile Today

Loss walks in
(Again)
This time taking someone too young to make it fair
(Again)
My cousin died
He was ill
Perhaps too weak and battered to survive the strife of this world
A prisoner of demons once long battled
Swallowing the bitter pills of regret knowing an end was soon near
But still, where is the justice in an untimely death?
I admit it, we were not close
Yet he was one of the branches of the tree
My family tree
Absent souls now becoming more prevalent
The names of the earthbound less than the departed
As I reach an age where my elders are leaving
(Now my peers are leaving too)
Mortality is a fearsome reality that laughs directly in our faces
As two adult children say goodbye to the father defined by biology
As three brothers say goodbye to a brother
As scattered relatives united in a virtual community bid farewell too
As a challenged soul reunites with his parents in eternal salvation
Sometimes hell is on earth
Some unsuspecting beings find their way there first
Placed into the fires of challenge and the ash of lessons
Because they are not long for this world
Destiny paving an open door for their learning to begin
In a place where the Universe restores the balance of a life
By bringing them to God much quicker than expected
There is perhaps no reason for this and it remains one of life’s unanswered questions
Why him?
Why not another?
Still I’m happy his frail and broken body is gone
Suffering simply for the sake of dying has no dignity
There is no virtue in the departure
There is no redemption in that final breath
Rest assured, however, he has gone to a better place
The key to those gates now available to him
He will walk through and enter the whole creation that somehow I think he was denied in this life
He will find the answers to all the unanswered questions he sought
He will find peace and most importantly he will be free
For this I smile today