Bright Star

Time is elusive in some ways, making us feel we can stay ahead of its dance
that pulls us along as the years go by, a fast train with no return track.
For nearly 25 years now you have been a bright and steady star
to all who experience your skill and warm, kind heart.

Absorbed by the constant demands of your surgeon talents,
you make sure all who cross your path feel loved and dignified
with their worries and concerns, time has not gotten the better of you
with its schedules and rules that can forget what matters most.

In your eyes I see more and more with each year that passes by
the wisdom of both joy and sorrow that mark their presence in your heart.
A poet once said that great souls have two hearts, one that beats and one that tolerates.
So is your heart to me, big and strong enough for two, so it can handle all it sees,
all it feels, all it keeps silent inside, for that is how love that overflows for all goes.

That is you to me, now, and how you will always stay, forever busy, forever kind,
with time for all, holding close all you learned, all you see, all you feel for those you heal,
 young and old, in that generous heart of yours that at times cannot bear the weight of life and death,
as you keep what spills over in your eyes, that are so deep, and know so much, and love and hurt with things they cannot tell.

Bright star, shine on, I sense you in the night sky and in my smile when ever I get to see you,
and wish with all my heart that you and I were sisters once upon a time.


Trudi Ralston.
For Dr. Laurie T. Sorenson.