Bereavement

This poem is dedicated to my uncle who chose seldom to leave and often remain in our home...and helped keep and build it. In that, no matter how far our marriages, work and trades took us, we always knew we had a home to return to. Tonight, he is no more with us, and the emptiness creeps in every corner of our home. We are afraid that without him, our home may never be the same again.

Tonight we mourn much at your loss.

For who can now replace you?

The vacuum you have left behind,

We know not what we are to do!

You have held this lonely bastion,

which we have called our home.

We like birds have flown our nest,

But you have fend for it alone.

We often changed the places of our trade,

And far and wide we flew;

But when it meant our coming home…

Your surely being there we knew.

Now we look around this place,

Where every brick resonates of you;

And find the spirit of this home,

Somehow bereft without you.

Can we pray for a guardian spirit,

To come and hold back what you’ve left?

That tomorrow, is no more in shambles…

What you have kept with sweat and deft!