• As your spirit ascends the stairway to heaven,
    a flitting shadow basked in a sacrilegious light,
    know that you leave with the prayers of the world
    each climbing with you, only a breath behind.
    PErhaps you hear the wails of your family,
    or feel the tears fall from the cheeks of your friends,
    as so many people mourn your passing.

    Life since you left is bleaker.
    the sun has lost its shining radiance,
    and the moon's luster has blackened from your settling ashes,
    fire dances to a slower beat while water ripples by itself.
    Trees shake their limbs in grim salutes
    while mountains bow their rigid heads.
    Animals turn to the direction of your grave,
    while people shuffle from place to place and speak in hushed tones.

    But tears cried for you, purified by sadness, quenched the thirsty,
    and our neglecting of meals fed the starving,
    but most of all our memories of you will have you in them forever.
    Someday when the dust has settled and the stars shine bright, we will be reunited again.