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One week later.
Still scattered across the landscape,
pieces  of our hearts, our lives, our dreams –
all of the verdant possibilities now dead.
We cannot count what was lost
nor understand what is left.
How we stand, where we walk,
what we see:  all is filtered through the
etched glass of incomprehensible pain.

One month later.
The earth, for now, lies still,
but echoes of the ground-swell,
ripples of the fearsome wave
have not vanished.  Our knees tremble,
our hands shake, our tears overflow.
In such state, we seek to mend the deepest wounds
that still lie open, weeping the dark sera
Of unfathomable grief.

One year later.
Lives forever altered, we stand, to walk again.
With slow yet steady steps
we trace out anew the architecture of our lives
and build upon the footprints of long-ago dreams,
and lost love, a firmer foundation.
We will not forget what we have learned.
A body’s strength is insubstantial,
That which our eyes perceive can fail. 
What lives within, unseen, will endure.

A lifetime later.
New generations live today
that bear no scars of our sorrows past.
We tell our tales, urgently determined
that the ears of innocence will listen and learn –
Trust not in the ground beneath your feet;
Value those you love, and never forget –
What we hold in our hands can be broken,
with a moment’s upheaval, with a single wave.
All is gone.  Only love remains.

Gentle Readers, the cataclysmic events of the past week in Japan, the past year in Haiti, all the man-made and natural disasters of recent years, and of generations long ago – all these things have weighed heavy on my heart, as photographs and memories have been displayed, and the stories told of life and death, of loss and recovery, of pain and relief.  In my prayers, I lift all those who are suffering through pain – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Through my prayers I seek to relinquish despair, knowing that the Love of God is unquenchable, all-encompassing, and everlasting.  In this confidence I can affirm that indeed, “perfect Love casts out all fear.”

I wish, I hope, I pray you all enough. . .