She is dying, a long dying. She says all she wants is to be looked at as normal. After listening about an hour, and seeing her through her skin, I get ready to leave. She says, "Oh, come here! I want a hug before you leave, I am not that awful looking." No, even visage ravaged by disease, she is lovely, shines through. Walking over, I make sure not to stand on the hoses that carry oxygen to her dissipating lungs. She reaches out, I reach out, to embrace. A kiss on the side of her forehead, unplanned. Love happens again. The sense of her skin lingers on my lips, as I drive down the road. Peace, sweet peace. Where Love is, Love happens - dare I say 'God' happens? Spirit is always reaching out to touch, not merely the skin, but the Essence ~ Grace loving Grace, you and I, healing the distance, again and again, for everyone. In a touch, one touch true, tomorrow reaches into today, creating the world that is and is yet to be.

©Brian Kenneth Wilcox. Brian is a Hospice Chaplain, living out his vow to serve all living beings by serving those preparing to die and their friends and family. Brian lives a vowed life, alone in a quasi-hermitic life, and integrates varied religions, but most especially the contemplative paths of Buddhism and his native faith, Christianity. Brian received a 'mystical' Christ-experience at age 9, and was introduced to a peace untouched by pain and suffering. Later, in his mid-30s, after surviving a dark night of despair, Brian was vowed to a contemplative Christian way of life on St. Matthew's Feast day, 1995, by Greenbough House of Prayer, in Georgia, USA. This began many years of ardent reading, spiritual practice, and exploration of many spiritual paths, including publication of his book An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The Journey has led Brian to the joy beyond the ache, a contentment in experiential union with Grace. Brian lives with the affirmation that Love, not as emotion but Divine Presence, transcends all paths of religion and is our Source and Destination. As St. Paul writes in the Christian Bible, "Now remain always, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." Peace to All!