THE OLD MAN
For J W.
The finality and surprise
of that consummate moment,
that last breath
for ever reminds those left behind
of human folly, ignorance, vulnerability;
it benumbs, alarms,
however we ward it off
or dress it up in nice words.
The smallness of our many years
seem interminable;
every fleeting, dragging instant
an eternity….until this…..this leap,
between one breath and the next
jolting into full presence
- somehow, aghast, awed, hallowed.
There is never a wrong instant
a premature departure
whatever the pundits assure
and calculate.
Likewise, that exact moment
is always perversely elusive,
never predictable.
Mother Nature, Father God business -
Fate, Chronus in cahoots.
Dearly beloved!
The material bit, dust to dust
The wayward mind, bemused:
“this is not what I thought;
what I feared, hoped, dreamt.
This is something raw and deep
beyond all estimations”.
The silence, stillness unbearable
and how the hot tears won’t flow.
No way back.
Time ticks inexorably on
when everything else seems frozen
feels pitiable, is intransigent.
The heart’s self breaks in parting
severed to accompany departed love
travelling to their unknown domains
while the rest remains on the solid earth
to grieve, struck dumb
yet brim with gentlest gratitude.
.