Her Work is Done


I see her in a garden
between long rows of green
I see her serving coffee
and wiping counters clean

She carries out with patient ease
tasks that look painstaking
A careful cut, a tiny stitch
in whatever it is she's making

She stands for hours in berry briars
Her fingers stained, she bakes the pies
A soul of strong determined will
deceiving of her size

A wife and mother, sister, friend
Grandma, aunt, and neighbor
Daughter of the rugged earth
Not strange to pain or labor

Her cats a constant comfort
her home an open door
A giver to community
Always willing to do more

Hands that worked in mercy's name
are finally at peace
Tired face and weathered brow
are free of worried crease

Off the tip of apron strings
through a radiant golden gate
A spirit soaring upward
sees an end to toiled wait

She smiles now, her burden gone
in the arms of those that went before
We celebrate our memories
She doesn't struggle anymore
Dorothy Juanita 2/13/29 - 1/27/03