The Survivors

-

It’s not right to be left alone,
     alone in a life we meant to spend
     together.

“‘Til death do us part” we vow,
     counting on growing old together.
     Counting those eggs will all be chickens.
    
Death did us part.
     He dropped in uninvited
     and unwelcomed.
     No voluntary act, this parting,
     not generously given,
     but wrenched from an unwilling victim.
    
A rapacious glutton,
     delighting himself on the tears
     of those he leaves behind to mourning.
     “Take me too!” we cry to no avail.

He’d have no feasts of sorrow without survivors.
     So he leaves us to the pains
     and emptiness
     that fill him.

  ©2020 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

Comments

  1. Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.March 16, 2020 at 6:23 PM

    Apt sentence: “Take me too!” we cry to no avail. He or She does not listen. He or She is a sadist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.March 30, 2020 at 7:42 PM

    I am quoting your poem now in discussions related to Covid. What a pain it is inflicting on families?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LisaMarch 30, 2020 at 8:32 PM

      So true. Fortunately, I know no one personally affected. I hope it stays that way, and is for you as well. Your thinking of my poem is quite a compliment to me.

      Delete

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