I begin to doubt the integrity of the prayers when there are small words inserted to create distance between the woman herself, the gossamer tendrils of law and mercy, and the gaping maw of life-limiting-six-months.

You knew her, right?

The beautiful love story and the broken loneliness?

The way two old people can alarm their neighbors by arguing in the yard?

The steep front steps?

The cartoonishly lovable cat?

She spoke clearly about the dismay she felt decades ago as she watched her own mother sink

Into the loss of who she was.

A person is worth more

Than the sum of all

They could ever possibly possess

But not what can be lost or stolen

When we all cease

To become human in our hearts