No chance to say thank-you

Or good-bye

You could fill a room with your presence

We expected you to stay much longer

To leave by the front door

With your loud familiar flourish

Instead you left

Quietly out the back

The screen door slamming behind you

Echoing into the darkness

Surely you must have paused on the thresh-hold

To look back on the light-filled room

Of the life you left behind

It was everything you ever wanted

There must have been a moment

Of incredulous wonderment at the timing of it all

Answers will unfold for you more easily where you have gone

We are left here with hearts still struggling to beat

Aching to comprehend the void you leave behind

Once again God called your name

You answered "Here am I"