A poem and tribute to my Nana Lilly Murdoch Sokimi. After nearly six years, we’ve fulfilled her wish, laying her ashes to rest on her island home, a place I knew only through her stories but have now walked myself #kuria #kiribati

💕
For you my beloved Nana you are cherished ❤️🌴

I miss you so much, but my heart knows you’re at peace and no longer at fuss

You’re laid to rest on Kuria, the island you love. Home with your beloved ones, safe in the stars above.

I miss you nana but I know you’re home

I sit on the beach, the sand warms beneath me. Your tales of old times dance in the waves of the sea

I miss you nana but I know you’re home

I wish you were here, right by my side,
But I feel you watching, with love as my guide.

I miss you nana but I know you’re home

Riding on the back of a motorbike, wind in my face, I see you in the land, in every sacred place.

I miss you nana but I know you’re home

The coconut trees sway gently, I’ll never forget whispering your tales you told me as a child oh how I fret.

I miss you nana but I know you’re home

I walk on the beach where the sand holds your steps and I hear your laughter, your glories in depths.

I miss you Nana but I know you are here
Kuria, your home, your land holds you now, in its warm, endless way.

In the heart of this island, where families join you by your side and love will never fade away .

You are home, my dearest Nana, you are home, my heart aches to say, forever here and my heart you will always stay.

From Fiji to Kuria we have reached the shores, May you Rest in eternal peace my dearest Nana on this sacred island of yours.

Time pervaded with regrets
is your biggest enemy

We are all just but
longing for mercy

Looking for a way to escape
the inescapable.

Yet we stand here
as if we are

Unbreakable

Wrapped up in my natural surroundings
around my home that has grown over the last 59 years.

I remember my Nana this week,
it's been a year since she’s left and I am still emotionally bereft.

I feel her in her favourite place,
her beautiful garden, now my saving grace.

I am wrapped in her densely rich oasis filled with colorful flowers and fruit trees that her hands planted in their place.

I miss you Nana but I know whichever field I walk through or wherever a greenhouse I plant, you will be not far from me.