Attending

I have attended death
Praying first to have the Spirit flow
Through me with the truest words to
Comfort those left behind

And

I have dissected death, both from without
Suddenly without those I loved and
From within, seeing the anatomy of the body
Probing my own invisible mind

And

Grasping for the place where the soul and
The breath of life lie
Knowing no doctor knows Lazarus
For a father in my arms can slip from me

And

A heart can stop pulsing
To slip away becoming pure spirit free of thin dust
Free at last to return to its source, to God, as a tide
Belongs to its sea

And

Just as uncontrollably and beyond measure
I have seen a mother let go of a baby
Being born who reaches out with its hands
As it cries alive, Alive

And

So I have attended Life
New and old and struggling and joyous
To be here and blessed to believe
That whosoever believes

Will never die