Life and Death, Words and Story: In Loving Memory

I wrote this today in loving memory of my aunt, Leonie Rothleder.  That part is personal, as was this loss.  But loss is the common trial of our extended, human family- the need to make some sense and find some peace at the edge of oblivion, our universal challenge.  I share it accordingly.

bequeathing the story

-for Aunt Onie and the rest of us

whatever exactly

we are, whatever ways

cobbled together: star stuff,

ambition, honor, greed or glory

fosters the illusion

that we are

what we wear, own

the things we borrow; the cosmic

Chemistry of bliss

and sorrow; that words

waiting but unissued

are ever equal to the story.

we are only ever for

moving on, for

using up; we

are the words

the notes; the page.

we are ever just

the pause, something in

between, and barely

held together; we are for letting

go; for making

way; the middle stanza.

we are the candlewax, a purchase

for flame, the possibility of

light, the promise of fire-

and warmth is ever

the common wish, two

ends of one tether; a

gift against the chill.

the flame just

needs what the candle

renders; the rough

imperatives of conquest denied

by the gentle

reverence of surrender.

it can turn

tragic in the wind or rain that

take the flame; defame these

lovers even as they

dance; deny the

wax its alchemy of chance

and immolation.

sadness is just then, or

elsewhere; the unmelted

candle; the ruin of

the unsung song, the pledge

not taken; the words

still waiting;

loss is going too

soon, or staying too

long; the flame puffed

out, or what the wax

withheld from flame, the light

denied its dance with

shadows; the latent

heat unkindled.

but not this. not

now; not here.

today is riddled with

the mysteries of temporary

things, that aren’t ever what they

seem, that tell of

this with hints of

that, like simile, or allegory:

like wick to ash

and wax to wind

and flame to silhouettes; we

borrow life a while -

we fulfill it letting

go, when we bequeath

it to our Story.

-fin

DLK