Your Dying Spouse 608 - Easter Horizon and Canine CPR {FMF}

I think we tend to quickly pass over Good Friday.

It's ugly; it's death, and in church there's no music. We know that the Easter Sunday service will be cool, and we want to skip past the grim grey ghastly gore.

Good Friday sucks.

And it is also the cornertone of our faith, an experience we all will one day live.

And we have to wait for the next thing. (Next is the Five Minute Friday writing prompt this week.)

The reason that the world is round

is we're not meant to see ahead;

our friends now by us, safe and sound

and then, tomorrow, dead.

But that which hides darkness

also hides the coming light,

requiring faith we must confess

that there is an end to night.

The stone rolls to close the Tomb;

can it ever roll away?

If we gain admittance to that room

will we find only decay?

But it's precisely what we can't foresee

that brings new life to you and me.

I had mentioned a while back that I was pulled back from death by my dogs doing canine CPR. Here's a demonstration, courtesy Madrid's Municipal Police.

Music from Needtobreathe, with Keep Your Eyes Open.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 607 - Feeding The Animal

You've got to wonder, just how bad can this get?

And the answer is, worse.

So I guess I just have to get meaner and more stubborn, and when I die I'll get a fenced-off part of Heaven all to myself, with signs:

Do Not Feed The Animal.

He Bites.

This was the day death came for me,

and that was a mistake.

He said that he would set me free,

but it was he who'd break.

They never taught me how to quit,

and I sure won't learn now.

This is surely not the worst of it,

and I'll face the coming row.

I've always had the battle ready

and this is just the start;

Let hands be sure, eyes be steady,

and let iron fill my heart.

To freedom's offer, this reply:

I am far too young to die.

Music from the Electric Light Orchestra, with Livin' Thing. Why not?

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 606 - Cremation

When I die they're gonna torch me;

this I've asked, and this I know.

But yes,  I will ask the courtesy

of their playing 'Disco Inferno'.

I want to imagine grim-faced techs

dancing to the joyous tune

and it's not often one selects

the ambience of the burning room.

Let's think back to polyester,

Donna Summer, and gold chains

and not allow sorrow to fester

while we flame the sad remains.

In dying, to heaven I will have awoke,

so let's put laughter in the smoke.

And there can be no other musical accompaniment but this:

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 605 - I Hope You Dance {FMF}

The past week has been...well...

I mean, when you can't bend over to tie your shoes without throwing up...

I think it shows how much God trusts me.

I used to think of the Parable of the Talents, that if you do well in smaller things, God will trust you with bigger things...and the implication, to me, was being trusted with stuff like wealth and status and fame and power.

But it may be a lot harder to be entrusted with pain and exhaustion and having the Angel of Death as a permanent dinner guest...while still believing, and keeping a positive attitude.

Let's dance! As long as you can dance, you lack nothing...and lack is the Five Minute Friday writing prompt this week.

I'm dancing on the precipice,

upon the windy ledge,

trusting that my feet won't miss

its vague inconstant edge.

I'm dancing with a joyous heart

some say I can't afford,

but in the dance I play my part;

I'm dancing for the Lord.

I'm dancing for the grace He gave

to be grateful for the pain

that proved His conquest of the grave.

He rose, and will remain.

This is no frantic dance of death;

it's the newborn leap of Living Breath.

As a PS, I wrote this on the morning of Thursday, April 11, 2019...and by afternoon the day had devolved into something so ghastly and frightening, I find that words fail me.

I can see the growing tumours in the mirror.

And, just for you, or maybe for me, a final quatrain:

Tho' the enemy win this round

and in hauteur bids me kneel,

I will in pride fall to the ground

and my teeth shall rend his heel.

If you're going out, go out bloody.

Music from Lee Ann Womack, with I Hope You Dance.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 604 - The Boxer

I was in the yard this morning

and in stabbing pain, cried out.

No one heard, the world kept turning,

I'm on the card for another bout.

I'll have to step into the lists,

but my gloves seem made of lead.

And yet, I must now raise my fists

to block a jab unto my head.

Cancer's always fresh to fight;

why can't it be thus for me?

And BOOM, I take a rock-hard right

and see the stars of Eternity.

I won't beat a fighter of his heft,

but know I have some punches left.

This first appeared as a comment on Linda Stoll's blog post, 3 Realities Of My Blog Life I know For Sure...No, Make That 4.

Linda's correct reply was that Someone did hear, and is even now helping me hold up my arms.

Music from Rocky...what else?

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.