(For Jeff Blake, my dear Uncle Carrick and all who we have lost, but not really)
I think like all that’s good,
you’re just up ahead,
to remind us
the net of goodness,
great web of grace,
the eternal embrace,
extends back.
Strengthening us at our girth,
and accompanying us forward.
Great grace,
not just for now and this present moment,
but for yesterday’s pain,
and tomorrows promise.
I like to think,
that from where you sit,
the boundaries are wide
and far-reaching beyond our sight.
And that within this encompassment,
somewhere, we all exist.
All our frailties undergirded,
and our missteps made right
by a grace that transforms us
through its gaze.
Yes, in this embrace of goodness,
great web of grace,
our place I think
is certain.
The one whose heart of love
contains the world,
has spread his net,
enfolding us as his own.
Yes I like to think you see all that,
from up ahead
and somehow make it known.
Ana Lisa de Jong
May 2018
Photo: Carol Haines
Living Tree Poetry 