"Death, thou shalt die..."

This morning as I took my puppy out, the moon lit up the back yard, and my heart remembered this beautiful song. I looked up to the heavens and thought "When I gaze into the night sky..." My mother died two days ago, and though I was with her body until her last breath, I believe her soul had already begun the journey...the final journey, the greatest journey, the journey home. During her last week, I often remembered John Donne's magnificent Holy Sonnet 10 in which he depicts death as a ruthless and mighty tyrant who loses the battle. Never have I seen this metaphor so clearly portrayed as in my mother's death. Death lost the battle as she won the victory of life eternal. And "as I gazed into the night sky" this morning, I was even more convinced that she is Home.