A Poem by VSS
They took her away and we all arrived
One be one, family by family
Fears, tears, hugs.
Slow motion pausing at her now empty bed, reverent.
Some touch her pillow and sheets. Some smell them,
While I sit frozen in a chair, clutching a pillow and watching them.
In other rooms, speedy planning her funeral, cleaning, eating, preparing.
Kids on the periphery of stunned adults in startled grief,
Running through and around the house,
Jumping off the roof,
Chasing each other with water balloons,
Darting around corners, surefooted.
Laughing, bonding with cousins
Until one day
They become adults
And slow in the wake of the death of their parent.
Everything changes.
The worn, smooth, familiar stones beneath your feet, once sure in their support of your every step, become loose, making you slip and walk gingerly for awhile, because she was your ground, even if you didn’t know it.
VSS 8-26-2006
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