Lessons Mother Taught Us
In loving memory and honor of my mother,
Sammy LaRue Thomas Deutschendorf,
May 11, 1935 – July 21, 2010
she planted dill for swallow-tails
and milkweed where monarchs would lay
their caterpillar offspring round
the grass green meadows of May.
the migrants returned then as always;
how quickly her crops were consumed!
but countless chrysalides dotted the dell
tucked inside their golden cocoons.
then early one morning she beckoned
us watch the mystery unfold;
the metamorphosis almost complete
translucent shells gave up their gold.
wet wings greeted the rising sun
and the warmth of a soft summer breeze,
soon butterflies coloured meadow and wood
floating gracefully throughout the trees.
she had taught us Christ would transform us
and as we watched the born-agains soar;
so certain were we then of heaven
as if we had been there before.
– Jerry Dan Deutschendorf