In 1979 I moved to Texas to go to work for an aircraft wire & cable distributor. There was a week in November when the boss would be very down and I was told that 15 years before he had lost a three-year old son to Leukemia. Having small children myself I tried to imagine what it would be like to lose a child. This poem was my attempt to search out those feels.
In 1996 my brother lost a son at age 23 in a truck accident and in 2009 a grandson at age 5. He often drops by the cemetery to have a
with his boys.
To a Child, Lost
As I stand in evening’s fading light,
Gazing down upon your resting place,
The mists of bygone days o’er reach my weary mind,
As memories flood back as on the rushing tide,
And I hear your tiny voice call out to me.
I see your beaming eyes and radiant smile,
As once again your hand slips into mine,
And I speak to you of things long past in time,
Of hopes left unfulfilled when you were gone,
Of loved ones now grown and on their own,
Of joys and fruitful seeds that I have sown.
Now sorrow wells up anew within my breast,
And I must go, for tears will soon blind my way.
Thus I leave, head hung, with heavy heart,
But one thing comforts me,
Children grow to adulthood and slowly drift away,
Forsaking the direct and simple thoughts of youth,
So when the world crowds in and troubles me,
Though sorrow stalks me here, I’ll come to you,
For though your passing seared my heart and soul,
And fills my quiet hours with infinite grief,
I would not trade that fleeting glimpse,
For immortality.
Burke