Death In Poetry
Was he wrong to suggest
“All poetry, in a way, is about death.”
He was in such earnest
I was obsessed with that research
One may write of the loss of family:
Usually a parent, more unusually of a child
Then, too, families are lost voluntarily:
Divorce, foster homes, sibling rivalry gone wild!
Another may write of an aborted career
The miseducation of his or her youth
A “calling” may be from God, or less clear
Alas, hate and scheming, are part of this truth
Yet others may chisel out a poem, or ballad,
With haunting memories of a land far away
Of lover hung, exiled, drowned. More hallowed and sacred
Is your own love lost, shared … or unhallowed matrimony
So, there I had it, a monk weeping over lost purity
A maiden having valued not her virgin birthright
Are losses, or deaths, mediated by individuality
Even seasons gone, is a temporary death and flight
For in the grand scheme of things – I say Abba-Father
The seasons do cycle back on no man-made, circular invention
All things teach, preach, - are good, says the Creator
If love makes room for love of the Author of Resurrection!
© Anil Deo for 20170402
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