for Dickie on his fifth rebirth-a-versary

The day you melted,
I witnessed the collapse
of a self, a candle burned
down to a puddle of wax,
a heap of humanity—
gone.

Yet strangers sprang
to reshape your melted
self into a new form,
and we learned that
resurrection is not
pretty.

But in the act of revival,
we become ones who
once again can bear light,
whose brightness cannot
be diminished—

who can be
reanimated,
re-formed—

our hearts reshaped
by grace and everyday,
imperfect human love,
into something we never
imagined we might be.

•••

You can read the stories of Dick’s cardiac arrest in Honolulu on Jan. 15, 2019, and the aftermath here.

•••

With our deepest mahalo, again and forever, to the AED Institute, Pamela Foster and Jenna Tanigawa, to Salesi Maumau, Claudio Alvarado, Camron Calloway, Chris Ohta, Andrew and Leona Boyd Doughty, Jan Lake, Mākena J. Ongoy, Dr. Nicholas Dang and the incredible staff and volunteers at Kaiser Moanalua Hospital in Honolulu, Cora Hoffmaster Johnson, Constance Raub, Danielle McKinney… and all our friends and family, whose support and love sustained us then and now.