Thank you to the loving friends and families, listed at the bottom of this page, who have honored Emerson, Sarah and Steve through donations to Courageous Parents Network.
Emerson’s obituary can be found here.
Emerson’s parents, Sarah and Steve, read these poems a lot during Emerson’s life and the poems now bring them comfort.
Last Night the Rain Spoke To Me
By Mary Oliver
Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment,
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain—
imagine! imagine!
the wild and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.
i carry your heart with me
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is youhere is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
The following people have given generously in memory of Emerson and in honor of her parents who loved her so and gave her such a life!
Susan Wilsey, Heather Russell, Matt Huston, Katherine Gebler, Allan Hackel, Ted Holmes, Meera Patankar, Nancy Canino, Emily Pimental, Bernarda Rivera, Elaine Christensen, Paige Colen, Terry Northrup, Nancy Kukura, William & Jo-Ann Greeley, Angela Earle, Kathleen and Jerome McCullough, Kate Heath, Jill Heath, Catherine and Les Hart, Lakeside Middle School, Champlain Connections VT, Landau Associates, Barb and Ted McKeon, Karen Atkins, Ryan Lacz
