~ The Dirge ~
Difficult,
All effort expended,
Insufficient to the task,
Can words express an adequate dirge?
Ice
on summer pavement melts,
Mountain
streams flow fast,
The
light at dusk fades,
At
morning comes day.
The
pace of time in transit,
The
present does not exist,
Yesterday
is history,
Tomorrow
is yesterday in waiting.
The clocks tick,
The hearts beat,
Seasons change,
And tears fall.
That's
the worth of a child,
The
paramount price,
The
greatest treasure,
The
very most important part?
I demand to know--
As the ice melts,
As time is in transit,
And as the clocks tick.
That
worth beyond replacement,
Must
be an investment in relation,
A
deposit in friendship,
A
venture in risk.
That
worth beyond replacement,
Must
be a tether to life,
A
surety against loneliness,
And
an empathetic word in old age.
And
the dirge proceeds,
To
do the impossible,
With
words infinite in selection,
To
express sorrow unlimited in depth.
And
time passes, but won't leave,
The
investment gone, still taxes,
The
tether broke, still pulls,
The
irretrievable loss, can't leave.
The
dirge ends as it began,
Truncated
in expression,
Impotent
in comfort,
Pointing
to God, the only hope.
Would that it could end,
Knowing that it can't,
Desiring that it helps,
But how on earth,
Can it express _________?
by M.G. Maness, April 1989
Once dedicated to a family, victims of callous violence
6th poem of 7 in my book PreciousHeart-BrokenHeart
with these and in order of appearance (click & see them):
2- Wasteland
3- Loneliness
4- Lovelorn
5- Hope-Trip of a Broken Heart
6- The Dirge
7- Beyond the Black Oak Wood Door
~ Click Here to e-mail me at: MG@PreciousHeart.net ~