Salt Of Heaven

Salt Of Heaven

Some have said she had a hard edge

That she was intolerant

But I knew her to her core

She was neither of those things

No, she didn’t mince words 

That is for certain

Yes, if she thought you’d done wrong

You’d be the first to hear it

A person of conviction

Black and white 

She’d speak her mind

She’d set you straight 

But her true heart was kind

She loved in a “real” way

A way that is forgotten today

An Old Fashioned type of love

A Love of God

A Love of Family

A Love of Country 

A Love of little Animals

She was a sweet soul 

With a tender alto voice 

She told stories of the “sangings”

Of the central role of the Church

She told of a little house 

The little house she grew up in

Of a life that wasn’t always easy

But of a house and a life filled with love

The 4th of 7 children 

She honored her Mother and Father

She never stole

She didn’t lie

She didn’t covet  

She treated others 

the way she thought 

She should be treated 

 

There was no middle ground 

With Ms. Mary Anne

You were either right or wrong

For or against 

I used to laugh with her 

And I would say

That I wouldn’t want her to be 

My Judge 

In Mary Anne’s Court

There’d be no hesitation

No lenient sentence 

Her justice would be swift

Her justice might seem harsh 

But viewed in the greater good 

Her justice would be fair

Her justice would be evenhanded

Mary Anne was definitely 

Old Testament

It was eye for an eye 

Tooth for a tooth 

That’s how Mary Anne saw the world

Do the Right Thing

If you didn’t then 

Be prepared for the consequences 

Instilled in the “fundamentals”

To be a “good” person

The fundamentals based on the Bible

And those words in Red. 

Her fundamental principles

Were related in “real” stories

Stories of a close knit family

A family without a lot of means

But a family that was bonded together 

By the “Old and New” Testament Teachings

This was the core

Of Mary Anne’s “raising” 

Her late older brother 

Had the “calling” 

In the middle of the night

To preach the Gospel

I know he was her favorite 

No one’s feelings will be hurt 

Because D.A. was..... 

“Everyone’s” favorite. 

Her family was her rock

You can’t find better. 

Maybe fancier

Maybe richer

This family was cut from sturdy fabric

Cut from whole cloth

Cut from Calico

Not fancy silk 

You won’t find a better family

A rock solid kin 

That she was born of

Kinfolk built over the generations 

Born of the very mountains 

The soil 

The rivers

The rock 

They put their plows in those mountains

They hunted on those mountains

They raised their young on those mountains

They worshiped the Lord on those mountains

David and Alma had 7 children

5 boys and 2 girls

Leroy, Glen, D. A., Wilma, Mary Anne, Micheal, and Gary

They had a truck garden 

A cash crop of tobacco

They had chickens and 

A smoke house 

They slaughtered a pig Thanksgiving

They canned enough beans and cabbage

And they ate enough biscuits and gravy 

To choke a mule 

The girls shared a room

They all shared a bath

The boys slept “upstairs” 

Except the “weren’t no” stairs. 

They used Nano’s quilting loom 

To climb to the attic

With just a window on either side 

To catch the night air 

They worked hard 

They played hard. 

On Sunday there was Church and sometimes 

Fishing on the Lake. 

Mary Anne was a product of this

Homespun but sophisticated

Down-home but educated

Never venerated but dedicated 

Mary Anne was seasoned from 

The salt of the earth 

And if this world had more of her

It would be a better place. 

There’d be no crime 

There’d be more caring and concern

And the family would be 

Sound and strong

Her legacy lives on in her daughters 

Rebecca and Elizabeth

And their children

Jude, Ewin, Stella, Jordan, and Kaden,

But she goes on to a better place 

A place with all those things and more

A place where she will bring her spirit 

And her own particular seasoning

And she leaves behind 

Some of this seasoning

A little pinch of her goodness 

In each one of us

And D. A. will be there with that smile

With a “little coca-cola” in his hand

And the fruit of life eternal 

Will taste even sweeter

For Mary Anne is now dining 

With her Lord and Savior

Where she is truly 

The Salt Of Heaven 

So rest In Peace sweet Lady

And pull up a chair

Because you’ve earned your place 

At the Lord’s table. 

John Snelling

01:24:23