THE ROPE

The gleaming white rope around her neck, they adorned with grace,
What once must have been a pretty façade, her beautiful face, 
Looking at her now you would never know, the life that could be told,
From that gleaming white rope with a clasp made of solid gold,
The pearls that she had worn for most of her life, lay there still,
If they could form the words that necklace could tell her life by sheer will,

How happy she had been when the love of her life gave her that necklace, 
Though they could ill afford it when it came to her he was reckless,
The joy that would become their lives, the memories alive in that strand,
Could tell the whole truth keeping tabs and writing the story in the sand,
Every pearl on that strand stood for a year that they shared their lives,
How many you say? Too many to count - at least fifty-five,

As she walked down that aisle to a new life, the strand was there to stand witness, 
And when the time was ripe and her children were born to attest to their fitness,
Five in all but only 4 grew to adulthood -the pearls were there when she buried her son,
they shared every aspect of her life even this time when she thought her life was done,
A mother’s heartbreak never fully heals, clasping her pearls she shed many a tear,
For her baby boy crying in the night - cries that she knew that she would never hear,

She wore the pearls wherever she went and they gladly shared her life,
Even when her baby girl grew to womanhood and herself became a wife,
Adam, Penny, Jack and Ana-her children, her husband, her life & her family,
She lived for them and they lived for her, they loved each other mightily,
And to Jake her husband she hung the moon and there would never be another,
He could not imagine his life without her- the pearls would know no other,

To be buried like this after so full a life the pearls to take their place in the coffin,
A reminder of all that had been their life together he would remember them often,
When they bent over to give final goodbyes the tears sliding over their white surface,
To be buried with her at long last as they had served a long and useful purpose,
They Counted her life in years, those pearls, her heartache, her joys and her sorrow,
And sadly for this family who loved her dearly there would not be a tomorrow,

In the blink of an eye the service was over and as they left the church,
Her family could not believe the sun shining bright leading the way like a torch,
And when they lowered that casket in the ground the woman and pearls alike,
Even though they were cold now they were once so very much alive,
And the people mourning at the graveside that day husbands, sisters, brothers,
Knew the pearls would stand as a testament for their love of one another.