Memory (from the Tides of Life)

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jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2013-07-12 11:50 AM

Memory
(from the Tides of Life)

The ease
with which we slipped
into one another's arms
belied the grief
fracturing our hearts
into millions of pieces.

We looked at our son –

Life never dies,
it resides
in another state of being,
awaiting rebirth,
a metamorphous
to a higher plane.

– sealed in a biodegradable
cardboard box.

Squeezing our grief
especially tight,
we stepped apart,
each took up a shovel,
lifted a scoop of earth
from the dam
surrounding the coffer
in which he lay,
and tossed it on his feet,
which we knew, though hidden
beneath a cardboard cover,
were sheathed in his favorite
black and white and gray,
running shoes.

The next three shovels of soil
covered the frayed
cuffs of his jeans,
with their torn-out knees,
the right-hand pocket,
with it's bottom worn through,
and his leather belt,
with the eagle buckle.

Then we covered his black t-shirt,
which enclosed the stillness of his heart –

and we paused . . .
grasping tightly the others hand,
knowing life is never fair
when you're alive,
your loved one dead,
death is non-recoverable,
your heart lacking the warmth,
and the touch
only the living can give –

and we cried heavy tears
as we tossed the earth
that covered his wondrous smile,
Hickory-colored eyes,
countenance always ebullient
with the wonders of living –

Scoop after scoop
earth returned him
to the fold,
until finally,
with reddened, blistered hands,
our son had become
a memory.

A loved
and cherished
continuously thought of

Memory

© wesley james beard, jr.
july 12, 2013

(note: not about me )

EmmaRose
Senior Member

since 2011-03-02

Posts 1376
Midwest

1 posted 2013-07-12 01:24 PM

a vivid and stark portrayal that hits home, this mother sitting here, thinking how blessed she is with 2 healthy and hearty kids, yet knowing how death waits for nobody. Sorry for your reason to write this, as glorious as is in your poem

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

2 posted 2013-07-12 01:41 PM

I'm not usually shocked by much of anything, but I'll admit to some shock as I kept reading this poem, J. Of course I thought it was concerning you and was having a very hard time believing, or understanding it. It was so "out there." Happy to find it didn't directly concern you, but you were concerned enough to write the poem, that much is clear.

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

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