In Full Bloom

Written in memory of Pam Dickison
February 1989

I wrote this poem when a friend was killed in a car accident during my sophomore year of community college in Worthington.  She was hit head on by a drunk driver on a Sunday afternoon.  It was such a shock.  I was not a close friend of hers, but we were such a small school that we all knew each other and were part of the same circle of friends.  I remember that week we all just kind of wandered around the school, drifting in and out of our classes.  Often someone would just get up in tears and walk out of class, and sometimes the teachers would even break down, or would continue teaching the class with tears streaming down their faces.  Pam was a beautiful, wonderful person inside and out and she treated everyone like a friend  I felt very compelled to write this to express the sadness that we all were feeling.  I wrote it after attending her funeral, and I was asked to read it at the memorial service which we had at our school.  Her parents were there and after the service they asked me if they could have the poem.  I was so honored.  I handed them my scribbled on copy (I had just written it the night before).  I often hoped that it brought them some small amount of peace in their grief.

In Full Bloom

With silk for a crown

And roses at her feet

She lay among us

Quiet and meek.

Not a glimpse of pain

Shown on her face

Only visions of Heaven

She can now embrace.

Yet the tears that I shed

Are for those who remain,

For her loved ones and friends

Who must now bear this pain.

For theirs is this moment

Of silence and rage

As the book of their lives here together

Has now turned it's last page.

But now is the time

To remember and hold tight

The gifts that she gave us

Before her gentle flight.

Now together in Christ

We celebrate in this room

For the petals we once knew

Are now in full bloom.