Still Sitting Shivah
by Lemuel Crouse
Honored buried dead
Broken-down bodies
Resting deep in red clay
I find cold comfort here
I find cold comfort here
Ritual and rite observed
Voice given to The Word
Voice given to The Word
Mourners brought low by
Song and grief now gone
A solemn vigil I still keep
Ever weeping seven days
Seven months seven
Years seven times seven
Years seven times seven
Heaven knows how long
In abiding sadness I
Have watched and prayed
For the day of resurrection
For the day of resurrection
No marble monument bears
My story no marker or name
My story no marker or name
I alone will ever know whose
Death forlorn is mourned here
Death forlorn is mourned here
12 comments:
Beautiful.
And title even more so......
Yes, cold comfort...beautiful...
This is awesome.
You can just about guarantee anyone over forty can relate to such things. The loss is universal. The older you get the more there is.
aha! very calm one... love it!..
JJRod'z
Beautifully crafted from title to finish!
atmospheric
i like the gentle touches doc...the seven times seven and resurrection...
A solemn vigil I still keep...
A lifetime of mourning, it seems. This is written so softly. I really like it.
Thank you, all...it means a lot. I can't tell you the whole of it, but, yes, Margaret, decades of mourning. Read another way, one might even think this poem is from the point of view of the monument, keeping vigil over the grave, but I think you saw it for what it is: lament for a loss by which the poet is still haunted, so to speak.
A beautiful poem indeed.
Anna :o]
There are sweet tones to this one. It was a pleasure to read!
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