Autumn mornings spread

 Flat and paling sunlight catching

 Leaves caught in death’s throes.

  How does wasting away birth such wonder?

How does death shimmer so?

Words falter, photos fade, explanations fail

 To capture one moment’s reflection

 Off one optic nerve tucked deep,

 Longing for both memory and meaning.

How does wasting away birth such wonder?

 How does death shimmer so?

 No twin deaths, facsimile or duplicate

 Partings, but each a rare and uncommon

 Departure, awe-full in oblivion’s path.

 How does wasting away birth such wonder?

How does death shimmer so?

 Here, a mystery: the Creator designed such

 Breathtaking endings, surprising artistry in

 Last-gasp dancing into rotting.

 Such absurdity speaks a larger

 Promise to souls immersed in a broken

 World, terrified by futile holiness, guilty and

 Always dying by sudden doom or lingering years.

 How does wasting away birth such wonder?

How does death shimmer so?

 Here then, this mystery: the Christ who died the

 Bloody death of deaths vacates his tomb and

 Invites we poor dying ones into his life so that

 Flatlined heartbeats and final breaths here

 Simply transform dust to imperishable glory.

  How does wasting away birth such wonder?

How does death shimmer so?