Aug 2017
ABSENCE, hear thou my protestation
Against thy strength,
Distance, and length;
Do what thou canst for alteration:
For hearts of truest mettle
Absence doth join, and Time doth settle*
While she sits in her chair
vaguely following the conversation
she also drifts away in time and inclination
to care for the important things we discuss
in many ways she is beyond those cares
her decision has been made
and we but sound and fury
isee she is now more complete
and composed than of recent days
for her there is hope in the path she takes
i cannot begrudge her the choice she has made
as she said her age and medical disposition
means she is already walking that road.
but as daughters do I peer forward even now
and feel the lack of her grace in daily events
Even today as we make plans, her abscence
whilst still being here is a vast gap of darkness
that we all avoid with plattitudes and brightness
In our private hearts we do rail against the
happenstance injustice that befalls the matriarch
we struggle with the alteration to the long march home
we come together to watch as we fall apart in small
and large measures...
In our minds we pledge the best,
in our hearts we pray for speed
We know she has forever etched
herself into our bones and being
but we quietly sorrow at her growing
absence...apart from her memories
and leavingd
*His mind hath found
Affection’s ground
Beyond time, place, and all mortality.
To hearts that cannot vary
Absence is present.
Against thy strength,
Distance, and length;
Do what thou canst for alteration:
For hearts of truest mettle
Absence doth join, and Time doth settle*
While she sits in her chair
vaguely following the conversation
she also drifts away in time and inclination
to care for the important things we discuss
in many ways she is beyond those cares
her decision has been made
and we but sound and fury
isee she is now more complete
and composed than of recent days
for her there is hope in the path she takes
i cannot begrudge her the choice she has made
as she said her age and medical disposition
means she is already walking that road.
but as daughters do I peer forward even now
and feel the lack of her grace in daily events
Even today as we make plans, her abscence
whilst still being here is a vast gap of darkness
that we all avoid with plattitudes and brightness
In our private hearts we do rail against the
happenstance injustice that befalls the matriarch
we struggle with the alteration to the long march home
we come together to watch as we fall apart in small
and large measures...
In our minds we pledge the best,
in our hearts we pray for speed
We know she has forever etched
herself into our bones and being
but we quietly sorrow at her growing
absence...apart from her memories
and leavingd
*His mind hath found
Affection’s ground
Beyond time, place, and all mortality.
To hearts that cannot vary
Absence is present.
Quotes taken from Present in Abscence John Donne.
This poem originally written as a ode to the love of his wife..
but in reading it anew this week it struck me in some parts as an apt description of my mother's (and our larger families circumstance) at present..my mother elderly and with a number of health issues, has been givin a cancer diagnosis..after medical consultations, she has decided to take the path of pallitive care over radical surgery etc..
This poem is more of me recording our coming to terms with her decision and being able to support her as best we can...
This is an easy thing and no easy thing..
I am not looking to open discussion into the merits caner treatments,
holistic treament or eunthenasia...am just looking to write down my thoughts.
The decision is my Mum's and has been made....Thanks
This poem originally written as a ode to the love of his wife..
but in reading it anew this week it struck me in some parts as an apt description of my mother's (and our larger families circumstance) at present..my mother elderly and with a number of health issues, has been givin a cancer diagnosis..after medical consultations, she has decided to take the path of pallitive care over radical surgery etc..
This poem is more of me recording our coming to terms with her decision and being able to support her as best we can...
This is an easy thing and no easy thing..
I am not looking to open discussion into the merits caner treatments,
holistic treament or eunthenasia...am just looking to write down my thoughts.
The decision is my Mum's and has been made....Thanks
(F/east coast australia)
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