The rain falls gently
down upon his pale and mournful face washing away his tears
He walks slowly down
the gravel pathway towards the grave
With one foot in front
of the other he is forced to move on
The stone stands rigid
in a shaded place
The heaviness begins to
settle in
Suddenly he drops to
his knee's as every ounce of strength drains from him
The church bells ring
and echo high above him in the stale air
The rain soaks through
his clothes, numbing his skin
The coldness doesn't
even take away the pain
He reaches out with his
trembling hand and places it on the mound of fresh dug earth
The magnitude of his
loss is overwhelming
With his finger he
traces out the letters and the date carved on the polished stone
At any time he would
trade places with the one who lays silent
The one who lies before
him will miss out on the beauty of the light upon this earth
He suffers from the
worst kind of pain
He points to the empty
sky in anger
He prays for an angel
to help him through this
He doesn't want to be
alone
He has no one to help
him carry his grief and pain
He refuses to cry a
tear
He bottles it all up
inside of him until it drives him insane
The air is wet and
heavy
The tall oak tree's
seem to bow down to the tombstones around them
As though mourning all
of the fragile souls that have been caught in the hands of fate
He places a rose gently
upon the soil
He slowly closes his
eyes as memories come flooding in over loading his senses
His will breaks and his
tears flow freely down his face
He holds himself in a
tight embrace and whispers upon the wind,
"I set you free...so
rest in peace..."
Published in: "The Departing Day"
Anthology of verse
Poetry Institute of Canada
©
2016
