GONE TO GLORY

In Memory of Frank Buttaci
              (01/04/55 - 05/28/89)


GONE TO GLORY
            by
  Salvatore Buttaci


Do not say my brother Frank has died,
That from this fleeting life he since has passed away.
Do not speak of him that way.
Do not say my brother Frank is dead,
He lost his life, he is no more.
Instead, say only this of him:
        Frank has gone to glory!
        Frank has gone to glory!

My brother did not die,
He did not pass away.
He left this life of pain
Where nothing lasts forever.
He left this earthly place
To claim everlasting space
With Jesus and the saints.
My brother Frank will never die.      
         Frank has gone to glory!
         Frank has gone to glory!

Do not remember him as you saw him last
In that sleeping pose,
His cold hands clasped in seeming prayer.
He was not there!
Nor does he sleep eternally.
His peace is not a slumber,
But rather a walk in Glory,
Living forever in the Light of Christ.
         Frank has gone to glory!
         Frank has gone to glory!

Do not be sad for him, as if in exile
He were banished from this earth.
From birth he gave glory to the Lord,
And in exchange, that glory has come back to him.
I did not lose my brother.
Through Christ’s promise, he was found.
He did not die; he did not pass away.
You ask me then what has become of him?
My young brother has gone to glory.
         He is not here.
         The Prince of Peace has brought him home to Glory!

     #


This poem first appeared in Bereavement: A Magazine of Hope and Healing (March/April 1990), 25.

Sal Buttaci is the author of two short-short story collections published by All Things That Matter Press: Flashing My Shorts and 200 Shorts, both available at Amazon.com.

He lives in West Virginia with his loved and loving wife Sharon.