Loss, To Rindy

When one has a loss
Tis right and good
To Grieve and Mourn
For a Loneliness has arose
To choke the Heart
And shock the mind.
The flow of tears
Washes some away
But always in the
Smallest corner, a bit
Will stay, to twinge
The Heart on certain days.
One score years my
Mother's gone and
Till this day
I sometimes mourn
On others though
I laugh with joy at
Memories of her
When I was a boy.
So mourn your loss
Yet keep in mind
Those memories of
Happier times.

Thank you for this, dear Camac. I have just heard that one of my dearest teachers and mentors from years ago has passed away, and I still can't even see him or think of him as old; indeed, when I knew him and worked with him, he was about as old as I am now. I am having a difficult time making room in my heart for the news, next to the candle flame that has burned mildly and serenely there for so many years as his inspiration and teacherly love. I learned something much greater from him even than the brave, endangered language for which he was my first teacher -- it was about how to be a teacher at all, of language or of anything else.

What a wonderful poem Camac. Thank you for writing this it really touches the heart and pleases me very much.

Slainte