By Victor V Yambao

On your death, the spirit parted away from the flesh
You went to the Lord with your share of his holy pains,
A piece of humanity that you are, you are now a brother to all
Welded as you are in Christ in his universal love.

No, you are not in your grave, not anymore,
Your spirit flew away on the wings of love;
The words the Lord had written in your heart
You wrote them back in the hearts of your brethren.

You are not in your grave, not anymore,
For you are in every piece of God’s creation
Wherefore where your brethren are, in kinship,
You are there with them to sing their songs of love.

You are there in the gentle wind that your brethren breathe
You are there in every blade of grass that they tread on;
Every rustle of the gentle breeze between green leaves,
Every lilting song of the birds are your sweet lullabies.

In deep slumber, sleep in peace, brother
You are now in the loving bosom of the Lord
But you are not dead, as you are now a part of humanity
Your footprints on the sands of time will forever last.

The poem above is a response to In the days of my youth by Sr Mary Grenough MM in our March-April 2002 issue, the story of La Tawng, a young man of 18 who died while working as a mission volunteer in a remote area of his Diocese of Myitkyina. The author, from Masantol, Pampanga, is a retired Catholic high school principal and columnist in ING MAYAP A BALITA, the official publication, in English and Kapampangan, of the Archdiocese of San Fernando.