By: Mark Almand
__
There Is a Place
I have seen death come
And then go
As my loved one floated
Between two places.
First bound by earth,
Then another world,
A foot in each,
Leaning here and then there
And back again.
Wishing for this place
And our loving touch
Then that place
And another kind of embrace.
She came and went
And came back again
As though unsure
Increasingly willing to go
And stay there
Each time releasing this place
More
And being released.
Again and again.
Each visit she spent
More time away.
Day after day.
We hushed
As we watched.
It was holy.
A sacred dance.
We too released
Not our love
But our hold
On what we loved.
With each return
Her face spoke
Of another existence
Of another world
Of a call to it
Of a place for her there
Of a different life
As real as here
And far more beautiful.
Until
Finally
It was time.
Like a kite in the wind
The final string frayed
And released.
My dear mother was caught
Up and away
And with shorter breaths
She moved
Onto a higher wind
Faster, farther,
Never to return.
When it was done
We stood by her worn container.
We’d glimpsed her flight
And knew
That we too
Will ride this wind
One near day.
We should not fear
We do not die
We are caught
We are transformed.
There is wonder there.
There is welcome there.
There is a place.
Sail on, gentle Winnie.
____
___
____
Bio: Mark Almand
Mark has been writing professionally since college. His poetry really got going in 2017 as a way to deal with his mother’s descent into dementia.
Favorite topics are grief, love, and faith. He has written one book, Claude’s Canvas, which combines early poems and narratives into a memoir about his father. He published the book in 2010. It is available on Amazon.com (Kindle), where it has garnered 4.7 stars.
He is currently writing a book of poems called Here and After and a chapbook called The Politics of Our Day.
Mark is ecstatically married to Kathryn for 36 years. They have three adult children and live in the foothills of northeast Georgia.
Additional Poems on Two Drops of Ink by Mark Almand
Is It Time You Submitted a Guest Post?
Are you looking for an additional platform for your poetry, prose, or problem-solving articles for blogger and writers? Then consider a guest post at Two Drops of Ink. Here are the guidelines.
Two Drops of Ink: The Home of Collaborative Writing
This is an excellent poem – descriptive and visual. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been, but you helped me understand the long goodbye. Thank you.