Bethlehem Weeping
for Jane Bethel

my mind was on her, ill
on my mind, well as well

she was good to me, accepted me
willing to try me on, try me out
another son, had it come to that,
it didn’t quite

what love and friendship
that never ended

how enhanced
my life has been by this family
added to mine

more genuine people
I have not ever know

they are real to me
she was antithetical to counterfeit

she was gold and silver,
frankincense and myrrh

it is time for myrrh now
passed away today
ill a while, ailing long

two medical doctor children
lawyers, MP's, sister of
our first Governor General

what a thrill to recall
her daughter-in-law,
Owen's wife, and her
in church with me
in Paris, France, in 1989

we attended St. George’s together
one Sunday morning

just before going up
to take the bitter wine
of Holy Communion

I took my notebook out
her brother, Milo Bulter
on the cover of it

in it I wrote:
learning to rely
upon the living water
to wait upon it --
rather than life's
artificial beverages;
abundant, useless
against thirst
against emptiness

empty and full
because of her having
passed this way

by her passing away


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
11:13 p.m. 22.04.10