10 October 2013

A Condolence

I’m not sure if it’s OK,
when most would be terse,
to offer my condolence
rendered in light verse
(which I am wont to offer
as birthday-cake oration).
But can this not also be
a time for celebration?
The rich life of a partner
so talented and true;
the times you had together;
the ways in which you grew.
And then there is the courage
in following your heart,
which brought your family closer
as opposed to hewn apart.
Or so it did appear
from this distant mountain top;
if messes had been made,
you were thoughtful with the mop.

How could we have fathomed
all the joy and pain
that we would come to know
since play-days at Newell Lane?
The many rites of passage,
Uncertain goals pursued,
while in the end what serves us best:
a deeper gratitude.