Joseph’s Angel

RIP Dawn Dell Dever Connell – my sister and my friend. [11 July 1967–30 November 2016]

Daughter, sister, wife, mother… friend

She gave loyalty for loyalty to the end

Her flame-kissed hair shinin’ like a halo

That mischievous turn of her lips, just so

Losing Dawny cuts deep to our hearts

A little piece o’sunshine torn from hearts

With her bright laughing eyes

And those one of a kind Dawn smiles

O Lord, we all need Joseph’s Angel

Givin’ us reason to laugh in the middle o’hell

Joseph’s Angel, mom to the fiercest degree

Gone from us now with the Lord to be

Laughing eyes dimmed in pain never more

Gone home, sharin’ stories on the golden shore

Lookin’ down on her Joe with hopeful sighs

In our Lord’s bosom Our Dawny now lies

With her bright laughing eyes

And those one of a kind Dawn smiles

O Lord, we all need Joseph’s Angel

Givin’ us reason to laugh in the middle o’hell

We see her now with little tricksy pranks

Laughter for all in Heaven’s ranks

We’ll miss Joseph’s Angel while we rejoice

God called her forth with His wise choice 

To with the Heavenly Hosts her stories regale

Dawny’s gone Home, made new, hearty and hale

With her bright laughing eyes

And those one of a kind Dawn smiles

O Lord, we all need Joseph’s Angel

Givin’ us reason to laugh in the middle o’hell

I never imagined such a world or day

Where she wasn’t just a phone call away

Joseph’s Angel always found the laughter

In every situation of the joke she was master

She told our stories, rendered humorously

Showed us not to take ourselves so seriously

With her bright laughing eyes

And that one of kind Dawn smile

O Lord, we all love Joseph’s Angel

Givin’ us reason to laugh in the middle o’Hell

Author's Note

I never imagined a world where our Dawny wasn’t just a phone call away. When you went Home, Dawny, a little bit of sunshine went out of the world. I don’t weep for our Dawny. There’s no more pain and suffering for her. She’s gone Home to the Lord’s embrace – for that, I will celebrate. However, for now… and for a long time to come… I weep. I weep for Joseph and Wayne. I weep for our parents and sisters. I weep for myself. I weep for a world without our Dawny… without Joseph’s Angel to make us laugh.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i relate so much to this...yesterday called the wife of a best friend, same age as i, who died of a heart attack when he was only 54...still can't believe he is gone...my dad a few months ago...mom three years before and other friends who left too soon...this is a beautiful tribute to your sister...much love and closeness expressed.

j.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. It’s been really hard to learn to live in a world without her showing me how to laugh at all our foibles. I definitely take thinks too much to heart sometimes. As I said to someone else, “There’s a Dawny-shaped hole in my heart.” But, thinking of that “Dawny-shaped hole” calls to mind something she once said after our grandfather died: [to paraphrase] It’s just space for more light shine from.

[Jennie Baron]

I weep for your loss, too, and I seldom weep at poems. Once again you have said it so beautifully with your unique voice. It's so fortunate that we have our memories of our lost loved ones and the comfort they provide once the initial loss is not so raw.

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks, Jen. I feel especially bereft because she was the only one of my immediate kin I was really close to.

[Davidgeo]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It was a touching tribute, well written. I hope this catharsis helps with the weeping, I'm sure Dawny would prefer that you find a way back to laughter again.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. She definitely would be the one trying to bring back the laughter. I wrote this back in November when she passed. I only refined a bit before publishing it now. I was in deep mourning for a long time but am finding my way. And, yes, Dawny would be the first person to be trying to bring the laughter back. I’m getting there.

Thanks.