In Loving Memory

For Stella L. Vaughan, my grandmother

Early August sunrise like the beauty I remember
staring through the soul of her eyes –

as another anniversary of her birth arise
I realize
I can still feel the heartbeat
of her tender love/such a golden prize.

Her smile, born in 1936 Georgia, grew into a woman
filled with strength and vision
and a compassion so deep that it still

lives on with us long after her demise.
The way she embraced each of us
whom her genetics bore
was never a surprise. So on this day

as I stare up at my nana’s presence in the sky
I celebrate the path she shoveled with bare hands
through soil rich with struggled; I celebrate
the seventy-six years of purified tears
that has bathed the foundations of growth
that still lives on;

and in remembrance of her voice
I celebrate the echoes of joy she filled
our lives with; the songs of hope that will forever
orchestrate the tone of a mother, grandmother
and angel.

In loving memory,
I celebrate a woman’s victory of life –a journey
of pride and sacrifice.