Prayer for Stan

 

I want to pray for my friend Stan

but it’s such a struggle.

 

We address our higher powers

who in the last hours

   become one god – Creator, Healer,

   Manitou, all gods together,

   One Holy See

   Snatching spirits from earth

   Stan of great mirth away to nirvana

   Far beyond where you or I

   Are able to see.

 

We address Shari’s great spirit

   who delivers souls from alcohol’s clutch

     and renders whole what hurt so much.

 

Sue’s god,

who sent her with blue-eyed mystery

   to offer an arm of love in a night of pain

     to let Shari love again.

 

We address Diane’s Christ

   who in a way we don’t understand

     loved everyone, especially Stan.

 

We address Pat’s Protector

   who took her round the girth of earth

     then made her Stan’s neighbour

         to contemplate the universe.

 

If there be a God for Jan

   it is a creation emerged from her

   togetherness with Stan

     in their life of generosity for others

       and their generosity

         for each other.

 

Stan is sitting there

   in his bishop’s chair

     holding court for the gods

         with laughter that never ends.

 

For a while we enjoyed him here

   holding court with us

     his friends.

 

My yearning turns

   from the effort of prayer

     to the ease

         of remembering

            as his life ends

 

Regina, 2003

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