Each life touches us in some way,

Everyone we meet.

Some people stay for a lifetime, others pass by.

Some make us happy,

 bringing love and joy,

 a deeper sense of belonging. 

Others cause only heartache and pain

Many more touch us so briefly we recognize them as fleetingly as the wings of a moth in the lamplight,

There and gone

Each person I treat and assess becomes part of my experience, and the more I get to know them the closer I feel.

Each life lost is one mourned, for the person that is and was

For the family that has lost someone important

For the potential there but now gone

I sit on the sidelines,

Merely a coach or referee,

 watching the game of life,

Not responsible for life choices, but here for advice and hopefully to keep them on the “right path”, 

whatever that is.

Another person lost, someone patient and kind, with family and friends

Unexpected, but not 

I feel multiple small holes in the cloak of soul that I wear,

Places where the cold wind blows, where only days before there was warmth.

Where does the fabric of personhood go when it leaves us?

A beautiful patchwork quilt of intertwined uniqueness.

Tapestry of life, 

each missing loved one together in beauty, 

safe and warm in the end

My cloak shines with the light of their loss, but I know someday I, 

too, 

will join them in the fabric of the ever after,

Together once more.