I wrote this just a few minutes ago for my friend R.D.T. whose loss of his brother, like I of my own, touches me deeply.
Lacamas Creek
for R.D.T.
Ritual is annoying,
not for me,
just ask anybody
who really knows me.
But your waters,
your waters
I see how they run deep
Run fast
as the love
I painted for you.
And where you begin
where we end up
must begin our giving over
Of what we have left
Of you who left us behind
On a dirt path
among green tints and red
on snags of rocks
at water’s edge
Life I cannot see
greeting what remains.
Your ashes take their time.
Reluctant,
I turn
our mother’s wheelchair
round
Head home.
Copyright 2009 Maureen E. Doallas
All Rights Reserved.
a thoughtful espression from the heart.
ReplyDeletei am sorry for the loss and separation that death brings to us that are still here.
and thanks for visiting.
i have two daughters,
one turned 22 on aug 22nd.
the other is 12 turning 13 in dec. and barely fits on a lap anymore.
Thank you, nAncY.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this poem in first person (because it worked best that way; it wrote itself that way), as though my friend were describing how he said goodbye to his brother. R.D.T.'s brother's ashes were released into Lacamas Creek, a place of inspiration, recently, and I based the poem on R.D.T's painting of the same name, which I saw on his blog this morning, and the few words R.D.T. wrote beneath the painting. His painting as moving as his words.