In the Valley
An Elegy

The envelope is empty, there remains
The merest weeping humanity
Moaning away the final hours;
What can be paid has been long-since repaid,
What can be forgiven has been pardoned,
The cross-foot ledger has been summed,
And one might hope, all debts now settled,
That parting would be easier.
But some debts paid are never settled,
And no parting is ever easy.

Go softly if you can, but you must go
Into the bleak valley of torment,
Terrorized, plodding in darkness
On a desolate road to almost nowhere
Through a place of gloom and shadow
From the gate of anguish to an ending.
I have kept my promise, given years ago,
And still would walk with you, but cannot follow,
For my own journey is yet before me:
All of us walk this way alone.

My spirit shrinks, and courage quails,
Mute horror of your agony besets me,
Your face recedes into the darkness,
And I am blinded by your suffering,
Having no grace to bring relief.
If still some debts are not forgiven,
Having no other gift, and still a debtor,
I presume to give a blessing:
May you find comfort in that cruel night,
And may you quickly reach the light.

For Fredda, April 2026