This was placed in the casket with Sarah for her cremation:
Tell me why
I’m begging you to explain it to me
Tell me why you had to go. Why was it your turn?
Tell me why I couldn’t save you
Tell me why you suffered
Tell me why you had a void that could never be filled
Tell me why I can no longer hope for your future
Tell me why I’ll never know what you could have been
Tell me why I’ll never hold you again or caress your hair when you’re hurting
Tell me why I’ll never walk you down the aisle
Tell me why I’ll never see your face light up when you have your own child
Tell me why you were alone when your heart stopped. Was your heart so broken that it just couldn’t beat anymore? Mine is.
Tell me why you gave up
Tell me why you didn’t ask Oma for boots at Christmas, as you’ve done every year
Tell me why you weren’t wearing shoes. Were your feet cold in the snow?
Tell me why we’ll never have another Christmas together
Tell me what to do on your birthday in a few weeks
Tell me how to heal
Tell me how to help your brother’s heart heal
I wish you would have come to Thailand with me. I think it would have calmed you the way it’s calmed me. You’ll be with me now wherever I go.
I love you dearly, my sweet little girl. I love you more
than you ever knew.
The Buddha said,
Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.
The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.
Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp – a phantom – and a dream. *
*Vairacchedika 32.
Jen Troyer ~ February 2019