Marisol Boutin Ramirez, July 29, 1949 – May 28, 2019

 

The Gods Have Not Died

They are alive, I know, and angels, too.

They walk around this homely, humdrum world

This place of frightened and indifferent souls

Of horrible and evil felonies

So common as to be, at last, banal,

Carrying their own light with them as they go,

Not waiting upon sun, nor moon, nor stars

To light the way of those lost in the dark.

 

What evidence? How do we know they’re here?

Where they appear, a sadness finds relief,

And illness, too, though this may take more time

(The cure assuming many different forms-

Some in the body, the best ones in the soul).

No matter if the one in need is mute,

Or cries, or bards, or chirps a hungry chirp,

Or waits with elder patience for a word,

A visit from the moving world outside.

 

They come themselves, or send a messenger

Like fireflies beneath the twilight trees,

Unseen until the dark is dark enough,

To bring a candle or a melody

A word of friendship, or some food to eat.

It matters little, so the need is filled.

Their presence is not always called by tears.

 

A solitary joy is somehow shared

With one we know rejoices with our joy,

Unlooked for. Without envy. (One of them,

Of course.) Who else (not counting those who love us

For blood’s sake, or for what we’ve done for them)

Thinks us worthy to rejoice without a fee?

 

They just appear, and where they place their feet

The ground is not the same. Their spirit casts

A light that calls sunflowers out of sand,

Kind words from cruel, and joy from gray indifference.

The living gods and all their angels have

But one bedazzling purpose – to reveal

The gold within us, how it may be found,

To show what wells of mercy there exist,

So we, like them, may pour the water our

To any living thing beset by thirst.

 

They live. If not, this world would be a desert.

Next time you walk a thorny path, look down.

You’ll see the violets blooming where you step,

And shimmering light remains where you have been.

You brought them with you. You are one of them.

 

Donations and memorials in honor of Mrs. Marisol Boutin Ramirez can be made to Mississippi Critterz (413 McElroy Dr., Oxford, MS 38655). Coleman Funeral Home of Oxford is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be left on the Tribute Wall at www.colemanfuneralhome.com.