Here is a new poem from blog member Chris Bourque.

Bones From Heaven

She lay on the sand.
A warm July day in Southeast Alaska.
Little wind, endless daylight.

It felt good to rest,
to feel the warmth of the sun.
Her eyes closed, her mind drifted.
Listening to the distant tide and
the voices of her children slowly ebbing
further and further away.
She felt at peace.

Suddenly, something hard fell on her thighs.
Startled, she bolted upright to see who had
disturbed her peace and
thrown what she quickly saw was a small branch.
Ready to admonish her children,
she could quickly see they were much too far away.
Getting fully to her feet, she looked around
and found no one else within sight,
No trees close by.
No way to explain this branch
that had fallen upon her.

Looking closer she saw it wasn’t wood
that had fallen upon her thigh, but bone.
She was sure of it.
She scanned the distant trees one more,
looking for that tell tale splash of white
amidst the green
letting her know an eagle was around,
but – nothing.

It was a little late for nesting material,
but an eagle could have dropped part
of its’ find on its way along the shore.
But, she hadn’t heard the eagles piercing call,
nor did she see any in flight as she scanned the sky.
She laid back down and mused
that this was a bone fallen from heaven,
dropped to remind her of the preciousness of life.
Perhaps done as a mischievous act
by her friend who had passed away
a year ago to the day.
But where would a bone come from in heaven?
Did they have lavish feasts with ribs?
Could the bone be from a different dimension,
contact from one of her many other selves
living in nearby parallel lives.

As she shared her story,
all of her family and friends
insisted it had to be a clumsy
eagle that lost part of its’
nest repair load.
But as time went by,
she preferred her thought
that this was a bone from heaven.
Contact made by a lost loved one,
telling her to “Wake up!
There’s more to life than you know.
Don’t let it slip through your fingers.”

So, she held that bone from heaven in her mind
as she loved her family, her friends, her life
more and more every day.