Heaven’s Gate
by Tiffany Staelin as a tribute to her 8th grade classmate

Losing a very close friend,
Having a heart that may never mend,
Remembering a friendship that had to end.

But why?

I hurt very much deep down inside,
Wondering curiously why he died.

It’s hard to realize that he’s gone,
Life misses his cheerful face at dawn.

Seeing all of my friends faces each day,
I hope and pray that he’s just away.

But now he’s gone and it is too late,
God has opened heaven’s gate …
For him.

Wholeness
by Tiffany Staelin, July 1997

“I wrote this poem on a rocky outcrop overlooking a beautiful alpine lake in the high country of the Wind River Wilderness of Wyoming.”

Wholeness, as the cool evening breeze scatters ripples across the North Fork,
the wind song echoes

Peace envelopes the soul; completing all existence.

The serenity of Sunset,
the harmonic chatter of the meadowlark

Simplicity and Balance prevail,
accentuating the ease with which we exist in the Natural World.

The Ephemeral Promise engraves a memory;
I will not leave this place
It makes me whole.