The Silver Gift of Life

                                             Dedicated to N.V.

The conversation behind the anonymous sacrifice

                                               He                             

                       For five and twenty years of wedded grace,

                       Your gentle soul has been my guiding light;

                       But now with deepest wonder on my face,

                       I look at you, my shine in darkest night.

                       A sacred part of life you gave away,

                       To save a stranger from a shadow’s hand;

                       In humble tears I look at you today,

                       The noblest heart in all this mortal land.

                                                She

                                My loving husband, do not praise my deed,

                             My spirit only answered to the call;

                             Compassion binds us to a brother's need,

                             To lift the faint and give the very all.

                             The spark within us whispers from above:

                             We walk this earth to heal the world with love.

                                                 He

                         Baruch Hashem, who kept you safe and whole,

                       And crowned our silver years with light divine;

                       He placed the holy mitzvah in your soul,

                       And linked the stranger's fleeting breath to thine.

                       Now resting home, the shadow's peril past,

                       Your selfless sacrifice has made me blind

                       To lesser things; His mercy holds us fast,

                       And gave me this, the jewel of humankind.

                                                 She

                            We praise his name, who guided all my choice  

                            And kept me safe beneath His shielding wing;

                            In this blessed hour, together we rejoice,

                            To feel the peace that healing days can bring.

                            Our blended lives reflect His Holy will: 

                            To love our fellow and His law fulfill.

Baruch Hashem - Thank God in Hebrew,

mitzvah - in Hebrew is showing compassion, or helping someone in need out of a sense of moral or spiritual duty