Kate Davidson
Monday mourning
After the numbness
the silence is swamped with remembering
with poignant memories
trivialities suddenly made
all that more remarkable in hindsight:
what he ate for breakfast,
how he answered the phone,
how he held you...
all adjusted to past tense
with deafening finality.
The room is left
cluttered with unfinished business
signs of
stopped-short
no one dares touch
for fear of clearing him away
so it is held in suspended animation
the room does not know.
And now there are no tomorrows
only yesterdays
and stagnant present pain
the world should stop outside your window
and wait for wounds to tentatively heal
streets should be empty
nights perfectly clear and mute
as darkness surrounds
and cradles you in its still embrace
now is racked with a perpetual
what if
keeps you from sleeping.
This is not eternity
flowers bud in frozen ground
you are his legacy
in your memories he lives
in your face he shines
and so survives through you.
No one dies as long as they are remembered
and in empty rooms you feel
arms around you
the cool wind dries your tear-stained face
like the gentle brush of finger-tips
a father’s touch.
Page(s) 122
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