Alleluia

Glorious fall afternoon
brilliant sun
Faded leaves on the ground

Pink sweatshirt
Bar Harbor
Blue jeans
Sapphire ring

Delicate fingers
Hands covered in earth
Gently scooping up the soil
placing it carefully
slowly deliberately
in a simple hole

Moving slowly
tearfully
a young woman
covers up
the simple wooden box
that contains
the ashes
of her
mother.

+

Part of my afternoon today, accompanying this woman, one of those moments of intersection between an individual's life and God for which I am graced to mediate.