Mourning

It is approaching the anniversary of the day that my sister rang me when I was on my way home from a holiday with the sad news that my brother had died. After a family death you carry on as one has to with life and you think you are getting over it until the first anniversary comes along when it hits you all over again. It also returns your thoughts to other loved ones you have lost.

 

Sibling Visit 

My brother visited me unexpectedly last night

It was a such lovely surprise to see him

There was a cricket match at a local sight

And I was happy but tears start to brim

Over, with the sheer joy at this visitation

I knew some of the other players by name

I ask why they didn’t say or give an indication

That he had planned to show up at the game 

He looked happy, smiling and summer tanned

And said he had missed me since the day

When we last met to sit and chat about bland

Ordinary things and crack a joke in the old way

On waking though, I knew why he came to me

To let me know that everything was good

Between us, I wished that we could be

A sibling pair again as we together firmly stood

 

 

A Death in the Family 

When it comes, it is never truly expected

We live in hope that we have more time,

Ever since the illness was first detected

Words are mentally unheard like in a mime. 

Awful news that was in disbelief received

Understood slowly like seeing the Cheshire cat,

Learning to live with it in mental depth believed

Swirling; with confusion brewing in a ghastly vat. 

Unforgivably aching as we wish that it would end

One not at the bedside avoids by absence, grief.

Pain when our  father is to his heavenly father sent,

A stranger’s words speak in error of blessed relief. 

The torture of the last weeks, days and hours

With nought to do but sit, pray and wait.

Weak ones cannot watch; their cowardice cowers,

In stoic acceptance the dutiful stay for the touch of fate. 

Thoughts morphing into the next, time just to borrow

Too painful now, denying tears their natural path,

When suffering ends, then begins true sorrow

With a family death and the crushing aftermath.