by Andrew Taylor-Troutman

In a hospital, they sang hymns —
a father and his grown daughter,
together in the ICU, after
he had nearly died. Now I still hear them —
how sweet the sound! — in my quiet
prayers. How silently, how silently I keep
recalling their teary joyful relief
to still be a breathing duet.
 
Tune my heart to sing thy grace,
each wondrous gift that is given;
teach me to number my days,
my spirit open to listen.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of Gently Between the Words: Essays and Poems and pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

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