VIGIL
For Luther Vandross and Barry White
We are born in pain, then relief comes.
We are lost in the dark, then day breaks.
We are confused, confounded, and fearful,
Then faith takes our hand.
We stumble and fumble and fall,
Then, we rise.
Into each of our meanest nights, you
have arrived,
Oh, Lord,
Creator,
To lead us away from our ignorance
And into knowing.
Now, we gather at your altar,
Rich and poor, young and
Achingly old,
We are the housed and the homeless,
We are the lucky,
And the lazy.
As if at the foot
Of an ancient baobab tree,
In this moment
We gather to stand, kneel, sit, squat, and
crumple here,
Knowing that, when the medical geniuses
Have done their best,
When the Nobel Prize Winners
Have used their most powerful energy,
We have You.
Creator,
We bring to You
Our brothers, sons, fathers, uncles,
Nephews, cousins, beloved, and friends.
We place the body of Luther Vandross
And the body of Barry
White Here before You.
They are among the best we have
And You are all we have.
Heal, we pray.
Heal us all,
We pray.