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luminosity
Senior Member
since 2005-11-18
Posts 813


0 posted 2011-09-14 06:00 PM


( with no idea what was forthcoming, I wrote this...the day before he died )
A time to mourn  Nov. 14, 03

hands clasped around knees she sits
unmoving, for these
are the days when the trees
are crying

contrasted by the dark threatening sky
their tears fall silently one
on top of the other

hands clasped around knees she sits
unmoving, grieving
with the trees

she could be raking, tidying the disorder,
bagging and tying up the
weeping, but

at this moment nourishment
need be stored for future
growing

now is the time for all that is
unfaithful to be
leaving

hands clasped tight she sits
unmoving, for these
are the days
for crying

Four minus one leaves three (December 2004)
________________________________________

the grieving process (as told by the mother)

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
(I still hear his sister scream)
it isn’t true you are lying it isn’t true stop saying that
you are lying! (no no no no no no no no no)
The policeman (I suppose) was the one
who was speaking
I could see the words falling from his mouth
and my son’s father helplessly
fighting the air as if to keep
them from landing

and this
was interrupted only
by the sound of
crying.

After forever had past they let us see him
the coldness of his skin
had no power over his beauty-
over and over we kissed his precious face
as if our touch could warm him
as if our love would wake him.

And then they said it was time to leave.
I understand now the reason of the blackening
of the sky when on the cross God’s Son hung.
This darkness is written on the hearts
of the grieving. (Outside in the sunshine’s injustice
the silence and held each other and cried.)

Some time some where
there was a service,
(they tell me) the church was full
even on such short notice
but it does not surprise me he was
so very special
everyone
that knew him
adored him.
Young and old (I am told) were crying

and then this (I think)
was followed by many more days
of crying.

And then (the tears had need of replenishing)
there were a precious few days
where we clung desperately to numbness;
we prayed for someone to pop the bubble;
we waited to stop dreaming.
Our own breath we would have given
just for his returning
but the providence of God
is not for human understanding

and this (I know) was followed by days
and days
of crying.

I sit and read the Bible now (more so than before)
the words of my Lord
are the only thing that stay
the unanswerable questions from forming.
And when the wee hours of mourning have need
of sleep, his father sings hymns of comfort to our Lord Jesus
until He grants us
slumber

and each of these twenty four hour long days
is dutifully followed
by another.

I try not to be alone, even though something in
aloneness calls me (there is a wailing that has
no want of comfort and I fear touching the pain
that holds it.)

When I can muster the will to do so I sift
through the dead and drying flowers and
today there was an hour (or so) when busy
took my hands from twisting up the tissue
and they say that time will better this and
they say that it gets
easier…

Maybe (I sorely hope) they are right
for even though my voice is leaving me
my words once lost in pain are once again
sorrowfully accompanying me
and sometimes for a time
my eyes do stop their weeping.
But to tell you what comes next
in this horrible pain they call
the grieving process

I cannot.
This
is as far as I have gotten…

You are my sunshine my only sunshine
you make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
Please don’t take
my sunshine
away.




Ashen inquiry (January  2004)
________________________________________

The cremated ruins of my world
lie now in an urn
no use for me
remains.

Scattered bits of love and reminisce
are retrieved from the tick-tocking
that threatens to steal them
and added daily
but the bottomless urn overfills
with nothing but
despair.

Lord take my words,
no longer do they have meaning;
take my ears, without his voice in it
this earth is but a void;
take my heart, it is ripped
beyond repair;
take my eyes for all the colors have
melded; take the warmth of the sun
for this coldness is
impenetrable.

Take everything I am
or might ever be
just please
please
give my baby
back to me...


In-dependence (January 2004)
________________________________________

too late are my struggles to
comprehend your need
to keep secret
a point of escape

for us your smile withheld
your broad shoulders upheld
as long as you were
you
then we could be
we
but the absolution of years
of suffering proved to be past
the point of your endurance

you knew
I am now sure
how much
we needed you
but your heart was too big
to tell us that our need
was killing you
that this codependence
was not rational of us
of me

death has broken the dam
the force sends me hurling downstream
the present succumbs to the past,
all the wrongs and the guilt thereof

throwing up the poison
that is drowning me is not an
option, it rages within
and without

so many times freedom
has been sought from this
ghastly venom but I had not the fortitude
to tolerate the hollow wake
of its leaving

and it appears I am  
denied the reprieve
of willing this heart of mine
to stop its
beating

at this point forgiveness
seems mute-
does dust turned ash have need
of pleading
of resolution?
no, it is the living
for which it is more than necessary
the lack of
is life
threatening

still I seek
for my sobs to reach to
before too late
beyond the beyond
please hear my anguished
repentance

though acceptance attempts
to tell me that even if-nothing changes
life does not go on
after death there is only
crying - tears rolling
down cheeks past numb
past caring

without you the battle roars
I am deafened by the wailing
of the wounded
my shield is burned to ashen
and too late I perceive
the principalities of darkness
and how desperately
they needed you gone

my mind is close to leaving
I feel the welcoming of the door
the sweet deceit of non
existence calls

I can no longer fight this fight
let me once and for all
be rid of these bitters
and let me be filled with only
the sweet grace of You
my Lord

spent, held up
only by Your love
my words are all I have left
please read deep into my heart
precious Savior
my whispered prayers are too close
to stopping

Lord lend me wings  2/7/04
________________________________________

Its dark Lord, much too dark to see
and from the feel of it, this valley
shows no sign of upward sloping.

The wailing of the grieving
pierces my steadfastness.
My words trembling, quaking within
slow my steps to barely
traipsing.

Lord I ask you, lend me wings,
but not to fly free from this lack of
comprehension or for a respite from
this pain, it is but a reprieve
that I seek.
  
Somehow I will find a peace in this trial
that has no end in sight,
my faith whispers reassurance that I
will pass through,

but if it please you Lord, I have need
to fly my words higher, circling them nearer
and nearer to You until I am able
to locate a perch from which to secure
a less obscure
perspective.

coffee colored memories   2/18/04
_______________________________________

Always a coffee drinker, I was not after the taste
so much, but the much needed drug.

My son, my baby boy that life turned into a man
much too soon, took time off work one day,
showing up with gift in hand - a cup of coffee -

a cup of that really really good much too expensive
for a momma working to make ends meet coffee.

One taste and my mouth was in heaven…
oh my… I was obviously thinking… coffee this good
should be sinful; his eyes glowed with the pleasure
of my delight.

We grew up within a smile shortage and so
to even the scales, God gifted him with a smile
contagious and my Chris always found ways
to spread it.

Last year at twenty-nine, my baby left this world
and for all the time that I am chained to this earth,
November’s days will black as coffee be, but coffee
will forever hold his smiling memory.


raging sorrow   2/26/04

the swells rise higher than the wreckage
where I seek shelter, sorrow steals my voice
tearing the words from my mouth, sucking
the sounds into silence

deafness and desperation force me to cling
to my pen but this time writing has not
the power to purge, it only drips depth
into the distress

both arms wrapped tightly around the Rock
I wait for a lull in the buffeting, I wait
for the sorrow to stop
raging


Until the worst blows over   3/8/04
________________________________________

Walking straight into this
I tried, but the strength of the
opponent shoves me
to my knees.

With feet out from under
I stumble face first
time and time again;

no longer have I the strength
or the willpower to
restore myself.

Compelled to recoil is not an
option; there remain those
that need me.

One at a time I pray  
five fingers’ protective cover;
He shelters me; I wait
for the worst to blow over.
No end in sight  3/24/04
________________________________________

misnomered as life
drizzles accompany this walk
between each day’s begin and the close
of each night

in shadows of doubtful darkness
starting with mourning's illumination and ending
without you, time’s disloyalty marches on

who can argue against it?   3/29/04
________________________________________

tiptoeing the words
they find different ways
to hush an entrance
and then they Pounce

the finale is the same
it never changes

small and inconspicuous but surely
uninvited they sit daily in the seat
beside me

over a million miles it
has run through my head
it never changes

despite the radio
on or off
they only know one chorus
they sing loudly and...
it never changes

like a thief least expected
they steal in close and run off with
my voice succinctly followed by
tear drop after
tear drop

charge them with inhuman cruelty
I should but the Judge is Death
and the sentence never
changes who

can argue against it?

Chris is dead
Chris is dead, they said


Let my feet follow   4/27/2004
________________________________________

Sometimes in these dark days,
more like a mirage than reality,
the promise appears to be
directly ahead.

Just when I think
that I might make it,
out from under my feet drop.
Try as I might
the wrong road has taken my path
again.

The bridge is broken and from all appearances,
has been for quite some time.
The missing warning signs…
ignorance, quite clearly the culprit.

Once again I find myself under
the rubble of where I have been.
Lend me a downpour Lord
to wash away the traces of this-
my directional impairment.

The storm begins to lessen;
the thunder stops its rolling.
I notice a simple sign
pointing up.

Upon closer inspection of
this elevating indication,
I realize that not every arrival
is a finish.

Let me look up, and please
Lord let my feet
follow…


when it's all you have   5/12/2004
________________________________________

the substance of things hoped for
but not yet seen
that’s what they say
yes that’s what I’ve read
and heard said more than
once

but on this dark sleepless night
the definition echoes hollowly
through my forgiven
but unforgotten ghosts
and my fingers insist
I leave the comfort of my covers
and query the possibility
of a life living in
pretense

but when it’s all you have
I tell my fingers and
doubt decidedly drops
our toe tips
scorching into
hell’s fire
as opposed to the times
of steadfast belief
that assuredly inches
us higher

and when it’s all you have
then so what
I tell my fingers
so what if the strand
we hold onto
cannot be seen

when it’s all you have
loosening one’s grip
is not merely a lack of faith
it is insanity

surely there lives in us a hope
for life ever after
for if not I tell my fingers...then
why hold on at all
why not
just let go

but when it’s all you have
you hold on

less than halfhearted   5/27/2004  
________________________________________

inside
forlorn
and deep
there waits a wail
I give it not life
for mine it seeks
to take

my voice has been stolen
my utterances muted
in silence it waits
a lack of speech
its covering for
a slow
strangulation

if given the reigns
its potential
would quickly
overrun me
bridled or free roaming
there waits a wail
forlorn it seeks
to take

daily I pray the fight
against it
but honesty insists
I admit that my defense
is less than
halfhearted


asked and unanswered   6/14/2004
________________________________________

when it came to pass that both her days
and nights were stricken with grief
whether heaven held all those
lost to the living or not,
liquid sorrow poured freely

but then,
doubt and guilt
joined the same team
worried their way midstream
took hold and stuck
half way down

heaven holds
those that are lost to the living-
the question nags into her sleeping
and tacks itself onto each wakeful moment

gagging on what if’s,
denial prevents the unbelief
from reaching her heart
the facts
keep it from working its way back
within reasoning’s reach

faith holds on with strength to remain,
but deep in the night
death’s undeniable finality argues
against it

this "lack of" in her life, has now taken
her voice along with the willingness
to swallow what assurance
needs to reiterate

resolution would require the peace
that surpasses human comprehension
render reassurance to remove uncertainty’s
existence, but the lack of
audible answers from on High gives surety
to doubt’s survival

as long
as heaven holds
all those that are lost to the living
she prays for the peace
that comes when breathing
ceases
uneasy proximity        6/28/2004
________________________________________

tonight I lie
still without
churning within

the ceiling’s parallel plane
is lowered to a reach out
and touch distance

the walls loom inward
until movement is
just next to restrictive

inside this permeation of dark
my heart’s beating overfills
the remaining spaces

the back of my throat
is too near the front and lungs
have economized

this world’s trespasses
have abbreviated
survival’s requisite distance

a scream is birthed
in hollow resistance scarcely breathed
only to be swallowed by the night

stilled in this uneasy proximity
I lie without sleep
and without
you

To have and to hold   7/6/2004
________________________________________


shrilly zinging
at breakneck speeds
to descend earthward in delight,
only to turn about face upward
so fast as to alarm
even split second timing

straight up
winged flight dizzies
Look at me mom look at me

fly

solo soars
now more often than not,
apron strings flap wildly
barely he is tied by the need for
mother’s appreciation

so momma prayed
that each day given
not be the one when he
would double dare
the sun

and until thirty six days into
his twenty ninth year
her prayers were answered

now as ashen remains are safely gathered
forever after to have and to hold,
denial’s inward gaze embraces the picture
of his tiny open mouth
waiting to suckle

love insists she lift her head,
recall the beauty of him
zinging across the sky
and press into her memory
for the echoes of
Look at me mom,
look at me

fly

Help me with words   8/2/2004
________________________________________

Lord, I am expressionless; my thoughts,
like the seashell’s roar,
echo obscurity.

Coherency wears a shroud
within this void; cries of inequity
for a life cut short, muted.

The sun’s shine like mine has
gone astray; morning wakes
too weary to rise and lift
the inky jacket of the night.

Help me with words, Lord
my thank you’s, gravely
misplaced, are unable to verbalize
their situate.

Vocabulary’s axis has vanished;
off kilter, my head is spinning.
Missing you’s argue with
intentions of continued existence.

Forgiveness endeavors to enfold,
but worry, an ill fitting garment,
refuses consolation’s cover.

Lord, take from me this upward ache
please hold my sunshine for me,
tell him I love him even more
than I miss him.

My Father help me with words;
unvoiced, heavy laden, my prayers
await Your release.


I can't shut this door   8/16/2004
________________________________________

being gifted with words and given glue,
little by little, able
to patch myself through,
each passage secured
behind me.
but I cannot write through
this doorway;
I cannot write
this one away.

reflections diminish daily, overly
taxed by mistakes that
haunt memory's pleas.
fondness trips over
misgivings that lurk.

hindsight’s perspective
tangles with today’s
concentration;
regret’s heartbeat
grows daily
more
deafening.

words given or not
this entryway remains.
open, because it has need to;
I must not forget.
remembrance is love
and remembrance
is all that is left.
here is now’s requisite, here
is where I will stay.

remorsefully it swings back
and forth on memory oiled hinges,
its lock mercilessly broken;

God, all I can ask is
give me strength.

I can’t shut this door.
Never ending stretches far and wide   9/2/2004
________________________________________

There is death in this valley,
the plague rests heavily on all who traverse
and though surely my own path is afflicted
this weight is not mine alone to shoulder.
Grief mounts in front and behind
the whole of which is pensively
insurmountable.

Not a get there and back sort of journey
each footstep is counted for or against;
this passage lasts from start to finish.
Comfort, within these sharply pointed walls,
is limited to prayers for brevity.  

Lord focus my footsteps; cushion
this corridor with your presence.
Teach me my Lord, to lean into your strength
and lest the purpose that leads me turn circular
in direction, put heaven ever before my eyes.
and there he wasn't   9/7/2004
________________________________________

there he was
brightly shining
the apple of my eye
none other
possessed the heart
of his mother
day by day
smiling as he struggled
through his pretend
he was there
and there he wasn’t

and then that day he lay
so still before us
passed into a coldness
where our warmth
could not reach him
there he was
and there he wasn’t

and now the smile
of his eyes
in a blink of love
crumple guarded
on five by seven
real enough to be
breathing but paper thin
as if we dreamed him

there he was and there

he wasn’t


how dare I   9/20/2004
________________________________________
With envy I spy
the spread of eagle’s wings
circle as higher ever higher
searches for the uplift
that will ease homeward flight.

But the eagle’s struggle is witnessed
not by I; cold and heat are equally
weathered; meals are won
not given;
life or death decisions daily
clasped in talons tightly.

So how dare I
the eagle not to fly
when anger holds God given
wings at my sides, lifeless.
And how dare I
the eagle not to fly
when the weight of my frown
fastens my feet to the ground.
Ensnared by my own failings,
life’s struggles hidden
by flesh and bone.

I have faltered,
forgotten how to fly;
draw me my Lord and I
will follow.
With each gust of your breath
beneath faith’s wings
circle me ever higher
to find the grace
that will ease my
homeward flight.
what child is this (10-10-74...his birthday)
________________________________________

what child is this
whose faith lives
even so
and is
certainly counted towards
goodness when trustworthy guidance
prevails

what child is this whose
innocence of heart grants
a world of madness and pain
unjustified multiplicity;
whose ire will not cover
even one inequity

what child is this whose questions
receive no answers;
whose heartbeat records a loss
of a measure that cannot be considered
even close to plausible

and what child is this that is no more-
my love my life my blood
no longer can we touch
for where you are and where I am
are not the same

what child is this whose birthday’s
are ashen remains?


**posted from the past with quiet acquiesce from 'jellybeans' ...sigh
If *I* am to go forward, I think I must link my past and my present instead of trying to leave it behind.......

© Copyright 2011 luminosity - All Rights Reserved
luminosity
Senior Member
since 2005-11-18
Posts 813

1 posted 2011-09-14 06:03 PM


In advance I would like to say this is posted in an attempt to heal...it is long and a lot to take in, I know the posting is for me, and its ok if you don't have the time to read it all and comment....just help me pray for healing and to take one step forward
OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
2 posted 2011-09-14 07:50 PM


Luminosity, there is sooooooooooooo much I wanted to say to you as I read through this – some stanzas I read a couple of times, because the tears blurred the words, or the sobs prevented me for taking it in, and I needed every word and thought – yes there is so much I want to say, but I am emotionally exhausted from all the sobbing from the marrow of my bones, that I can’t right now.  I will come in again tomorrow or soon, and I will withhold my tears so that I can say some (all would take hours) of what I want to say – for you, for him, for me - and so that I can pray for your healing and your next step forward.  

Hugs
Owl

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
3 posted 2011-09-14 07:58 PM


I knew when I started reading that I'd end up in tears and the tears were indeed quick and many. For through the words you gathered here, I remembered the many times your emails wore smiles because Chris had cheered your day.

Time doesn't always give us understanding and some wounds will never heal. But poem by poem, question by question, I've watched you step closer and closer into God's embrace. I always thought of a spill of colors across the page when I saw the name jellybeans... but luminosity suits you even better... for you truly illuminate our minds and lighten our hearts.

I will be back, my friend... for certain lines beg special attention. But for now, I can only say I love you and would give anything for you to have been spared this agonizing lesson.

(((((HUGS)))))

JL
Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128
Texas, USA
4 posted 2011-09-14 09:08 PM


"I sit and read the Bible now (more so than before)
the words of my Lord
are the only thing that stay
the unanswerable questions from forming.
And when the wee hours of mourning have need
of sleep, his father sings hymns of comfort to our Lord Jesus
until He grants us
slumber"


Gosh, this is heart-wrenching.
But such inner beauty expressed so vividly.

(((( ))))
       HUG

JL


Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
5 posted 2011-09-14 09:40 PM


I'm so sorry. This is wonderful. Tragic. Wonderful. I am not a praying person, but I will keep you in my heart.

~~ "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent. It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." --George Washington ~~

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
6 posted 2011-09-15 06:45 PM


Your heart, dear Luminosity, has written these words of immeasurable pain and they touch me deeply and I want to reach out with a big hug.

To experience the transition of a child is almost above human bearableness. You have kept your faith and yet the answer to the question "Why" fails to arrive to bring peace.

The gift of your son's life is infinitely precious and perfect, even if you understandably feel that his staying with you was too short. May you find every day a sweet memory and express your gratitude and above all imagine your son alive in another dimension. Slowly you will transform the tremendous pain into serene surrendering to what is and into pure love and gratitude.

Your love gives your son the wings to soar ... your undiminished sorrow affects his level of freedom. It is necessary that you let him go, otherwise it will be difficult for him to enjoy the bliss of his new existence.

Write about your loving memories, but don't hold him back, there is a oneness that transcends time and space. Let the light of love into your heart and dry your tears in the awareness of the truth that we are children of eternity.

Embrace life and your eyes will see again the colors and the beauty of it. Joining you in prayer for the healing of your heart.

Love and hugs.
Margherita

luminosity
Senior Member
since 2005-11-18
Posts 813

7 posted 2011-09-16 05:38 PM


I will be back to this tonight to reply more but am severely pressed for time@work but I have to say thank you with all of my heart
suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
8 posted 2011-09-17 11:03 PM


resolution would require the peace
that surpasses human comprehension
render reassurance to remove uncertainty’s
existence, but the lack of
audible answers from on High gives surety
to doubt’s survival
----------
what child is this whose questions
receive no answers;
whose heartbeat records a loss
of a measure that cannot be considered
even close to plausible
-----------
Lord, take from me this upward ache
please hold my sunshine for me,
tell him I love him even more
than I miss him.
My Father help me with words;
unvoiced, heavy laden, my prayers
await Your release.

These poems poured from your heart and penned with tears are magnificent examples of both overwhelming grief and unshakable faith... as well as unending love.  

My friend?? I know you know this... but you don't go forward alone... no matter what you call yourself. *S* (and FYI... mugwort's still available. *G*) I love you, O&O!!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
9 posted 2011-09-23 08:18 AM


Luminosity, I took a while to come back, as I said I would, but my life has been even busier than usual lately.  I said I would withhold my tears so I could try to write just a few of my thoughts in reading this exquisite exposé of grief.  Ruth (Suthern), a long time ago, wrote a series of poems on Grief.  I would like to suggest that, if you have time, that you do a search for them and read them all.  I know that it will bring some comfort to see how well she understands it.  I do too, but don’t want to appear to be treating yours with anything less than it deserves, because mine is for my horse, my cat and my dog, but if you know me well enough, you will know how I bonded with them and still do.

Your poetry aside from being a means to heal is soooooo beautiful – and that first one, being” A time to mourn  Nov. 14, 03” I resonated so completely with, having an indigenous forest garden.

And that second one, oh that second one “Four minus one leaves three (December 2004)” – well, I can’t stay the tears any more.  This is grief as raw as it gets.  All I can offer is hugs, hugs, hugs.

And the third one, “Ashen inquiry (January  2004)”, I wanted to say I wish He could bring him back to you, but the thought entered my head, that where he is now, he is so safe and happy and showering his love on you as your Guardian Angel.

The fourth one, “In-dependence (January 2004)” – such a clever poetic title – you see, God’s and your son’s loving messages reached your heart and they are loving and supporting you and guarding you and guiding you.  

The fifth one, “Lord lend me wings  2/7/04” I do believe He did.  And how like your humble and generous heart to ask Him to lend the wings to you as opposed to give them to you permanently.

The sixth one, “coffee colored memories   2/18/04” is soooooooooo beautiful and proclaims God’s and your son’s love for you with the blessing of not only the memories, but the physical more-than-a souvenir which you can imbibe, the way you imbibe their love.

The seventh one, “raging sorrow   2/26/04” displaying that the pain is never over.  Even after a lulling reprieve, it comes back without warning in a hurricane.

The eighth one, “Until the worst blows over   3/8/04” asking for God’s protection and receiving it and that of your son, for you put the needs of those who need you before yours.  And most of all having faith that He and your son will protect you until the worst blows over.

The ninth one, “No end in sight  3/24/04” – oh, boy, do I know that feeling – they don’t know who say that time heals.  

The tenth one, “who can argue against it?   3/29/04” – I know that “no matter what I do or say, you are NOT COMING BACK” – hugs, hugs, hugs

The eleventh one, “Let my feet follow   4/27/2004” – oh yes, that broken bridge, and then the miracle of that sign pointing up – I am so relieved and grateful that you see it.

The twelfth one, “when it's all you have   5/12/2004” – that wavering of faith, that brings us back into faith and shows faith to be more real than ever we thought.

The thirteenth one, “less than halfhearted   5/27/2004” – that swallowed, strangled wail, so hard to fight it.  

The fourteenth one, “asked and unanswered   6/14/2004” a large wavering of faith, but a return to it, as an otherwise drowning man holds on to a floating log which brings him to the river’s brink.

The fifteenth one, “uneasy proximity        6/28/2004”  the walls of the room and your throat close in on you, and the reality that he is not there doesn’t change.

The sixteenth one, “To have and to hold   7/6/2004” the end of this one had me catapulting into sobs again.  Too beautiful to write about.

The seventeenth one, “To have and to hold   7/6/2004” – that second-to-last stanza had the sobs exploding – God, certainly gave you words, and He made sure that you captured them.  The sobs they will bring will help your healing.  

The eighteenth one, “I can't shut this door   8/16/2004” – I can’t either – I talk to my horse and my cat and my dog lots every day, despite the perfect gift they gave me on New Year’s Eve of last year of a precious doggy and kitty  – I would crumple without that bond.  The bond keeps the door and the wounds open, but oh how I need that, and so, my dear Luminosity, I advise (I hope correctly) you to allow that door to stay open as long as you want it open.

The nineteenth one, “Never ending stretches far and wide   9/2/2004” oh, Luminosity, what a beautiful, beautiful prayer.  I think this is the pinnacle of this glorious memorial to your bond with your son.

The twentieth one, “and there he wasn't   9/7/2004” when my horse went to Heaven (he went first) on 28 April 2002 at the age of 37½ human years and after I belonged to him for 20 years and knew him for 2 years before that, I was afraid to go to sleep because I was afraid to dream about him and then wake up to find he was no longer there.  However, between God and Flicka they organised it perfectly.  I have only had 7 dreams about him that I know of (one last week), but they have been a perfect blessing and gift from God and Flicka.  What I am saying is that I understand that feeling of your son being there and not being there.

The twenty-first one, “how dare I   9/20/2004” – this is soooooooooo beautiful and so generous and so humble.  Your prayers should be immortalised for millions to access and pray – they are so perfect.  I also have said so often that birds are not free, they have to keep looking over their shoulder for birds of prey.

The twenty-second one, “what child is this (10-10-74...his birthday)” – his birthday is coming up soon.  If you do nothing else, give him a deep, loving smile with an attempt for it to be a happy one.  I think that will warm his heavenly heart more than anything else.  How beautifully you link this poem with the birth of Christ, with whom he resides in perfect harmony.  

I understand so completely the need to link the future with the past, as I said above.  I know it works for me.  I believe it will work for you too.

Thank you on behalf of your son (if I may be so intrusive) for this exquisite suite of poems, and to which I hope you will be adding whenever your heart and the words demand it.

Owl

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
10 posted 2011-09-23 09:32 PM


My dear girl,

how much you, and Martie, and others, have in common.

If I could, I would say, take my heart,
it still beats.

If only, for yours.

Love, K


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navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #47 » A lesson in loss (repost for soon approaching anniversary)

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