Sunday, April 9, 2017

April 9 - A Grief Observed

Micah at Galveston beach
To his mom he'll always be like this - four. To me he is 28 and my friend































It's been eleven years and a bunch of weeks
   Since I lost the son who had at last,
Become my friend in the days before he died,
   All that father/son stuff finally gotten past.

Grief's a different thing observed inside
   The griever; not at all what you expected.
Time does soften it a bit, but does not
   Wash it all away and clean; the pain rejected.

Not a day goes by I do not think his name or find
   Some trace, some thing about which he used to care
His drawings, journals in a box, a picture lying 'round the house 
   His drawings, even the old shirt of his I sometimes wear.

In his mother's mind he's always four years old.
   To me he's twenty-eight, six-four, and just become my friend
It's different how we each remember him, but we do.
   He's alive inside our grief with us, a pause but not an end.

Micah wondered once if someone would remember him
    If he were gone, I think he sensed his time was brief.
I could tell him now that he is remembered every day,
    With joy, pride and love, and even still a little grief.   

© 2017 by Tom King

2 comments:

  1. I've just spent a month with Gideon Micah. It is easy to imagine Micah with him. They both have big dimpled smiles and a laugh that relieves stress to everyone who hears it. Gideon Micah is far from a little boy just as Micah was. I can see Micah loving and laughing with our Gideon Micah. No, Micah will never be forgotten because it is impossible to forget his joy and heart. Hugs.

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  2. You'd be surprised how many of Micah's friends and family named kids after him. Micah's life lives on in children. That's about right...

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