Firsts

She remembered the first time
she went to church without him;
the bowed heads of sympathetic sorrow,
her gratitude for whispered prayers.
She remembered the first time
she went to bed without him, cold sheets,
shadows, darkness filled with loneliness.
She remembered the moment
her intense pain moved from her head
to her heart, and seeped into
the permanency of her soul.
Then God met her in prayer,
“This is not the first time
for a cataract of tears, a broken heart,
or a soul restrained by chains of sadness.
I experienced it before you and gave
you these feelings, not to burden you
with my sorrow, but to give you
a limitless well-spring of emotions
so you would know the redemptive
power of love which serves as a bridge
to the hope that resides in His resurrection.”