Matchmaker

by Dan Gerber

Danielle Scott Merrill February 20, 1959 – March 26, 2025

Gone, gone, to the other shore, crossed over,
already arrived, completely awake, so be it!
–Mantra of the Heart Sutra

Sometimes it feels we are here alone
with others coming and going like weather.

There is a dark side of life, always with us,
walking beside us, knowing more than we

can know, containing our light in its shade.
You knew this. In our last conversation, in

what little voice you had left, you said,
“I love you uncle, and I’m not afraid.

I know what’s on the other side,” you said.
Dear Matchmaker, a new match for you and

you already a t home where you discover,
again, who and where you have always been,

still brimming with advice about the
care of our cats and dogs.

Life tells us that grief dies into
what we are grieving, and, in that sense

restores us, more feeling, more human,
and thus holy, holding my sense of you here now,

a saint to the lost animals and the
human hearts into which they are delivered,

you now among angel beings,
as you have always been.