2015: In Memoriam

The year 2015 was full of sorrow and loss for many people, both for strangers abroad and those more closely related to my life. One year ago today, my aunt passed away and since then my FB feed seems to be filled with one story of farewell followed by another. There have been many joys as well, but this poem is dedicated to those who experienced hardship and loss in one form or another.

2015: In Memoriam

A singular, titular breath
From small bellows unleashed once
The pleading song of desperate life;
Then eery echoes slowly fade,
Softly dying into dismay.

What quenched spark of light
Can be forgot
In the dead of night?

Life long beset by constant pain—
Psychical, monumental—
Seeking stillness in bitter draughts
As drowned memory numbs the ache,
Forever, never to awake.

What bourn life may bear
The stings of loss
Piercing past despair?

A gnarled tree with roots dug deep
Stood against the raging tides,
’Til inevitability
Levels a man thrice father—
Even the strongest oak shall fall.

What peace may be found
In last farewells
To a soul unbound?

What beauty of life can resound
As we gather round
Our dearly departed,
Entering territory unchartered,
Our smiles half-hearted
Having lost a part of our story?

What solace revives
A hope (a lie?),
But that “life survives”?