{We have had the sorrowful occasion, lately, to attend funerals and memorial gatherings.
I composed this poem to express a certain sense of being an impostor, of lost opportunity and self-reproach, which one might feel, during such a ceremony. Especially, when the deceased happens to be someone, one has not gotten to know well, despite many opportunities to do so.
I hope, I have not tread too clumsily on this sensitive topic. My apologies, if I have. And of course, my condolences go out, to all those among you, who have lost someone.}
The golden spade,
The toss of dirt,
The plant and mulch upon it;
The choral song,
the homemade cake,
The awkward talk and rhetoric:
We hardly knew
This cheerful man.
We eavesdrop on his stories.
We bend and comfort,
Clasp a hand,
Limp, wasted, drained of glory.
We scan the hymnal,
Echo words
Five milliseconds late.
We mimic movement,
Stifle-cross:
A black-draped mourning-scape.
Remember all departed souls.
But please,
Before these, none:
Those souls we failed to right-appraise,
To deem time-worthy in their days,
Whose lives surprise, whose acts amaze;
Whose voices echo on.
Copyright 2019 Andrea LeDew
Your poem is spot-on for the awkwardness of funerals and other people’s grief.
Thank you Liz.
I like that it was from your heart and it sure was a custom poem!
And also interesting about how you did not get to know the someone even after trying – such is life- eh? Sometimes at least
Also – we had a death in early May. My husband’s ex-wife killed herself and she was a mean and selfish – made our life miserable for decades and also had enemies sprinkled every where – we later realized she had high narcissism among other things (and narcissists lack empathy and dish out misery cos they need to) anyhow – do you have s poem
For this – when an evil person dies? When the few who mourn have grief but also have frustration about the constant drama and conflict the deceased brought.
S
Thanks for reading prior. That is an interesting request. Don’t think i have anything in the arsenal that quite applies, as of yet. ?
By the way I am so sorry for your loss. Not everyone behaves well, but we often still ache at their absence.