Some Leave This World While Still in It

By: Julia H. Fonte

Locking its noise out

from within chapel settings

tucked into mountains green and white,

housing those called, those who have chosen.

In one, behind gates leading to freedom,

black fabric flowing under sacred veils

may greet you.

Before dawn, sweet ethereal chants swirl     

with chapel chimes,

permeating space within and without

until the dark of sleep.

Joy basks in simple moments, weaving

the hours with prayer and contemplation,

constant companions

that gather garden bounties, orange-yoked

eggs and sweet gold from combs. 

They stroll along the river, tend to the ill,

bake life’s bread and linger in the kitchen.

Selfless hospitality graces the guest house,

providing quiet you crave, peace you seek.

And those prayers of today’s women

in ancient cloth, devoted to one

most seem unable to reach—are for all.

Julia H. Fonte is a retired psychiatric and Hospice nurse.  She is a new writer living with her husband on old Vermont farmland.  Her work appears in The Mountain Troubadour and Touchstone and is forthcoming in The Braided Way.