There She Lay

 

My grandmother lay,
dressed in pink,
in the white coffin.

I watched from the pew.
I watched the people,
people she helped:
poor, middle class, and rich.

She
gave furniture,
money, clothes,
and most valuable her time.

In the first pew my mother and her sisters,
wailed and cried.
In the second pew,
the elderly women, dressed in black,
waved their hands,
which were covered with white wrist gloves,
as if they were royalty,
saying farewell to a fellow queen.

Mix scents of White Diamonds and Happy jumped in the air,
danced around my nose,
calmed the church with peace.

Preacher preached,
waving a worn black bible,
with his left hand.
"She is surely is in heaven looking down on us."

Like a llulliby,
the elderly women said in unison, "Amen."

The elderly men hummed as the preacher said,
"All what she done for others, is return to her right now,
in heaven."
"Amen."
All nodded. All agreed.

There she lay.