Yet Again

Life is full of meetings and partings, hellos and goodbyes, arrivals and farewells, love and loss. Each day comes with its own challenges. Some days the severity of a loss does not affect you, and you can ride the wave. Other times the wave crashes on top of you without warning, leaving you breathless in its wake.

There have been many challenges for me this year, this month. I recently shared that one of my family members has died. Yet again there has been another loss in my life. This time I have lost a dear friend.

One of my former co-workers at the library died a few days ago. She and I were friends while we worked together; when she retired, she and I drifted apart. We would send one another e-mail messages occasionally, usually on holidays. Even though we did not interact as often as we had in the past, we picked up our friendship just where we left off.

I learned that this friend had cancer a couple of months ago. A few weeks ago she entered hospice, or end of life care. 
I was told by her family that cards and letters were welcomed. Upon hearing that, I decided to write my dying friend a letter.

However, that brought me much pause. What do you write when you know it will be the very last time you will communicate with that person? What do you write in the last letter you will ever send to a friend?

After a few days of thinking, I decided on what to send her. I sent her a greeting card and wrote a special message inside. 

I then enclosed one of the poems I have written. 

Now that my friend has died it brings me solace to know that she is in heaven, and she is no longer in pain. Her loss is already felt by those that loved her. There is one more star in the sky. 

I would like to share the poem that I sent to my friend. It's called, "It's Quiet in the Library Today." When I wrote it, 

I wrote about having an unusually quiet day in the library. Now the library is quiet for another reason-
to honor her memory.

Rest in peace, dear friend.

It’s Quiet in the Library Today

It’s quiet in the library today.  

Believe it or not, that is a rare

     commodity these days-

       for a library to actually be quiet.

There’s usually always the sounds

     of the hustle and bustle

            of patrons looking for their holds,

     patrons talking to their neighbor,

            or catching up with a long

            lost friend,

     a patron yelling at library staff

            because they have a fine

            and don’t want to pay it,

     children running here and there,

            excited about finding a book

            they want to read, or fighting

            with their siblings about which

            movie they’re going to watch

            first when they get home,

     babies shrieking at the top of their lungs,

            the way only babies can,

     the clatter of cases being opened

            to get the CDs and movies out of them,

     the thud of materials dropping into

           the return bin,

     the copier running in its usual

           whir of machinery,

     the buzz of the printer making printouts

           of hold notices,

     the beeps of the lasers as we process

           the returned materials,

….all of these noises, heard all at once,

          can be a deafening symphony.

But not today.

The library is blissfully, joyfully,

          peacefully quiet.

A person can relax and actually

          read a book if they want to.

A person can relax with a latte

         and read the morning paper

         if they want to.

A person can hear themselves think,

  for the library is blissfully at peace.

It’s quiet in the library today.

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