August 8th - Matthew 25:21

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

To my knowledge, I have only been in a room while someone died there once. It was predictably enough a hospital room, and it was not unexpected. My wife's grandfather. Basically my grandfather.

He was older, had lived a long and eventful life, and had his granddaughters by his side, although I don't believe he was aware enough of what was happening to know this. But he left this world loved.

It's a strange vigil, sitting in a hospital room, waiting for something you don't want to happen to happen. It fills you with a yawning sickness, a tension, an absence. Because it's unbearable to sit and wait, and it's worse when the wait is over.

I don't have the poetry to say what John says here. But I understand what he was feeling at a level I am not equipped to express.