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Jean87
Author
11/21/2025
160 Words
128 Views
2 Comments

Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.

this poem is very faith forward.

Path Forward - 5. Mercy Came Before the Fire

This is dedicated to my aunt, who passed on October 31, 2025.
this poem is about her death.

Mercy Came Before the Fire

By Brandon Haines

It was 5:30 in the morning.
when the furnace sparked its final breath,
wires whispering heat into flame—
but her spirit had already been lifted.

No foul play. No suffering. Just a quiet release,

a heart that chose heaven before the fire could speak.

The detective called with facts,

but we heard something deeper— a mercy that moved faster than flame,

a grace that stood guard before grief could arrive.

She was held. She was spared.

She was already home.

She was already home. Reunited with her family-

who had already received their Mercy—

Luke Nathaniel and Betty Jean Rutherford, her parents.
Scott Ethan Rutherford and Rhonda Lynn Haines, her siblings.
Miranda Sario, her granddaughter.
Jonathan Luke Russell Haines, her nephew.

And we light candles not for the fire,
but for the grace that came before.
For the silence that held her.
For the mercy that met her first.

In Memory of Marsha Jean Taylor (Aunt Shasha) I will always miss you