Mother
your absence filled my entire world
with emptiness.
I tried to find you
in the asylum of your eyes,
gray, bare,
with neither tears nor smiles,
only twilight in your stare ...
and I, your midnight child,
unlit candles in sleepless eyes,
combing
combing
combing your lifeless hair.
But for a short while
yellow sunlight giggled its shimmer
in wordless wards ...
Mother
are you afraid? I asked
No, how could I fear?
Your answer soft, calm, serene.
I do not fear: God is near.
Laughter cried
when your arms became
womb again
and I was reborn
in joy and pain,
you here!
And then you died --
such soundless sigh ...
.
Author notes
My mother suffered of severe depression for almost all of her adult life ... but five years before she died, she was cured miraculously -- and she lived a normal life until she died of a stroke a few months before her 70 th birthday ...
In a list
A contest entry
- Vortex Psychosis by desiredpain.
410 points, ended October 11, 14 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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A very moving and personal write. Questions and answers, tears and joy...your words touched my heart.
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Eenvoudig pragtig.
Die teer beeldspraak wat die leegheid en die soeke so erg raakvat.
So se ons dankie vir God se geskenke aan ons.
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It is the truth of this life..and one can relate with it..though your cry is universal and quite touching as well..well done..
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When I read such poetry as this I can only become mesmerized in wonder at the sheer beauty of the soul writing it. You are such an inspiration.
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Heart wrenching poem delivered eloquently... Im glad your mum was able to find peace and enjoy her final years here. "Laughter cried" emotion charged phrase, great stuff.... a beautiful and moving dedication
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A very beautiful and touching poem, written with obvious tenderness and love.
Take care,
Bill
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this reminds me of the last few days of my grandmothers life that i spent with her...
i would always comb her hair, put on her make up and bathe her...
she was so vain even at 92! she had several strokes so by the end there were not very many parts working on her.. but man could she whip up killer limmericks!
i am sorry for your loss
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How sad, that this disease robbed your mother of herself and you of her. How sweet those five years are to you now.
But, as you know, the separation is temporary and in time it too will be fleeting. When I meet up with you there, (I'll know the tall redhead anywhere, there will be no need of introductions) I can meet your mother as well. There will be no depression there, neither sorrow nor tears.
Beautiful poem.
Garrison
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Beautiful
Touching and sad a true masterpiece. Flows well and brings very vivid sorrow but also happieness and hope that death is not the end.
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That is strange. I once used the very same phrase in a poem: "In the asylum of your eyes, iodine stained..." That's all I remember. It was an apostrophe to a photograph of a woman in a mental hospital in Lousiana. The piece is now gone, being among one of the papers I burned one night in a moment of angry catharsis. Good luck in the contest. Psychosis is beautiful.
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