The night before 17-year old Adrian died in a tragic car accident, she confided in her grandmother that she had a distinct idea of what heaven would be like. She saw it as a verdant-kind of Narnia, complete with unicorns, a beautiful castle, and a loving Aslan, who’d gaze upon her with love and pride. These powerful images would populate Adrian’s Healing Dreamscape, a remembrance portrait of Adrian from her grandmother to her mother.

In the wake of her death, Adrian’s mother composed the following poem in a tribute to her daughter. She references a “golden sky” which I put in the final version of her daughter’s healing artwork:

“Will there be unicorns in heaven?” you once asked of me, while I brushed your long and silky hair that lay across my knee. And I think there should be dragons too. They’re so misunderstood. But they are all God’s creatures, surely some of them are good.”

So I pondered for a moment about our God so true. I said “He knows all the things you love; I’m sure He’ll have them just for you.

I could see anticipation sparkle in your big brown eyes. “Can I visit many distant lands, and will I learn to fly? Could I have an Irish castle in a kingdom by the sea, surrounded by a golden sky and Heaven’s majesty?”

(Excerpt from Penny Morris’s poem, “Unicorns in Heaven,” 2005)

Further reading: Adrian: Patron Saint of the Castlebuilders