Wings

K. flew away home this morning (see eariler posts). She had lingered near death for too long, it seems; there's no way of knowing why she held on for as long as she did, but I am certain that she has blessed relief in passing from this life to the next. We who waited are relieved, too (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Reading Gerald May's "The Dark Night of the Soul", I'm learning about John of the Cross. John was a monk and a poet, and later wrote commentaries on his own poetry. Dr. May describes his poetry as "hymns of grandeur of human existence, full of passion, rich in yearning and joy, vibrant with the beauty of creation", and notes that John himself says that his commentaries at best can only shed "vague light" on his poems - "much less on the actual experiences that inspired them."

It's a funny thing, that where essays and commentaries fail, poems and hymns succeed in going deep, expressing the profound, the eternal, the essence of things. And then, we often find it necessary to explain - in much less interesting, much more superficial and cumbersome language, the "meaning". John had it right when he said that such activity only sheds a vague light on the original expression.

And so, we have room in the most serious settings for poetry and for song. This morning upon first awakening, just before we got the phone call telling us of her passing, I thought of K. and her wishes for a memorial service. She wanted this song sung at the service. You could write a book about her life - a commentary, let's say - and you wouldn't do her life justice. This old Albert E. Brumley hymn does, however:

Some glad morning, when this life is o'er, I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away;
To a land where joys shall never end, I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away.

-To K., being fitted for wings.