River Crossing

Sitting in bed she gazes at the river,
Flowing just below the threshold of her doorway.
She envisions an arriving boat,
A waiting seat in the center of its boards.
Everything seems out of reach, too much like climbing.
In her bones she feels a farewell.

The imagined craft becomes a farewell.
She once sat fishing on the rocks by this river.
Every day she dreams of climbing.
Only thing between she and the river is the glass door.
Waking from sleep, she meets the confining ceiling boards.
Yet just outside the waiting boat.

Fast-moving current supports the boat,
Spring flowers wave in the breeze a farewell.
She feels her heart ready to board,
Spills into the propelling river.
A new world invites her past the double doors.
The first step, the hardest in the climb.

She thinks of Jacob’s ladder, climbing,
Into the holding vessel of the boat.
Spring reaches for her beyond the open doors.
Her sleeping dog on the pillow, she sighs fare thee well.
Musical prayer transports her to the river.
Another shore beckons her on-board.

No ticket needed, just get on board.
Invisible wings help her climb.
Dreaming and waking she glides to the holy river.
Her moorings lost, she wants a lifeboat,
To carry her over watery depths for a farewell.
To ease the passage of the soul please, open the door.

Moving from land to water offers another doorway.
As she settles in, a sound of creaking boards.
Her daughter sings, All be well, farewell.
Clutching the sides with both hands she climbs,
Trusting the soundness of the boat,
And new life in the spirit, a promise by the river.

A solitary last journey, the doorway to ascending climb.
Coming full circle, she lands in the safety of the boarding boat.
Until the farewell of death, always breath, sky and the river.