Brilliant Pearl and Daughter of Light

 My sister, Margaret, is gone—
left to join the angels in heaven,
without having known
the full prominence of the name
she was given on earth for seventy-nine years.       
Recognizing her curiosity in all things,
she would have delighted in knowing
it originated in the land of Persia,
with the meaning of pearl or daughter of light.
Her eyes would have sparkled,
and her face would have beamed thoughtfully
had I told her these things in time.
But it must be understood that I could not,
for she left in haste from this discontented land
on a recent Sunday afternoon,
surrounded by persons of warmth
and lifelong dedication.
Did Margaret even care that
she shared her name with
an American author,
a former English Prime Minister, 
a sister to the Queen,
or the daughter of a famous President?
It mattered not that she had
but one familiar commonality with all of these.
What’s significant to Margaret now is to be
a Pearl in heaven and a Daughter of Light—
there to be with our Heavenly Father
forever and forever.

©2013 By David Lee Thompson