A poet’s free verse on her mother’s death. |
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By Birgitta Jonsdottir / Reykjavik, Iceland
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Sunday, November 4, 2007 |
Best of IMAGINE 2007  Resting place. You didn’t want howling machines to prolong the inevitable the fake life morphine reality Please don’t die until I am with you I have plenty of grace to your liking I will read at your beside the poets you love I shall read for you about life and the angel of death I will brush the dried blood from your thick hair Sing for you the lullabies forgotten from your youth Please wait for me Songbird spreading its wings towards the light Your life fades out your face faultlessly smooth Through your half-closed eyes I see stars Infinity and the universe Yet death does not come at our mortal bidding As you slept the angel of death came for you embraced you with ocean-blue cloak and as you left with him you sang in my dream “Did you know, your friend is dying?” You smiled and vanished into the beyond The day passed in flight In transit between our world and your world So far yet so close Finally on a distant soil I embraced your lifeless body still lukewarm I kissed your face with a thousand kisses howled “mama, mama, please come back be warm again” but nothing was capable of pulling you from death’s embrace Peace found, mercy from life’s heavy burdens And I let go, I rejoice with you at the core of my grief with your book of life singing in my heart. Related pieces:
SONG—When the violin is silent
PHOTO AND WRITTEN ESSAY—Journal of the Ladybug |
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Last Updated ( Monday, January 7, 2008 )
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