Читать книгу Unexpected Occasions of Grace - Mike Carotta - Страница 12

5

Grace passed on in a final message

“I know what I want read at my funeral,” announced my eighty-five-year-old mother-in-law. Two thoughts raced into my head: she was years away from a funeral, and I was now the guy who was going to have to make good on this deal.

“Have you told anyone else?” I asked, praying so.

“No. Actually, yes. I told Matt the other day.”

She reached toward the coffee table and opened a green book entitled Prayers by Michel Quoist (Sheed and Ward, 1963). It was a gift given to her late husband by one of their daughter’s boyfriends nearly forty years ago. The inscription was dated 1974. Sure enough, her son Matt had attached a yellow Post-it to Page 21.

Mom read it aloud. The way it came out of her mouth sounded more like a hymn. It filled the room with light and soul. Vivid images flooded into my mind with every word.

I couldn’t stop them. I didn’t want to.

The Wire Fence

The wires are holding hands around the holes:

To avoid breaking the ring, they hold tight the neighboring wrist,

And it’s thus that with holes they make a fence.

Lord, there are lots of holes in my life.

There are some in the lives of my neighbors.

But if you wish, we shall hold hands,

We shall hold very tight,