Everyone believes they
Everyone believes they
Will not cope,
How it feels to bear pain
Is beyond their scope
When the time comes
They will be found lacking
The look in the eyes of a child
When the kitchen knife
On the chopping board
That should have been out of reach
Cuts through a little finger,
The tears when the blood comes
The panic held in check
To allay fear.
Night terrors and
Stomach upsets that feel like death
In the heat of a long night
When convulsions
Bring an infant out in a rash
A fever running too high
The mad dash to Casualty
The anxious wait for news.
Parents grieve the loss
Every time a doctor is called
Until it matters,
When the unforeseen happens
Terrified that they will
Crawl into a corner
Weep uncontrollably
Bite off the heads of strangers
Act ungraciously
As a reaction to helplessness
When it is already too late
To make amends.
Silence in a graveyard
Is a matter of convention
When everything
Could do with a shake.
Celebrations are never out of place
It is their meaning
Which is open to interpretation
The dead are beyond caring
It is the living
Who need to feel the cut
Sharply driven down to the bone
Bluntly put
Forgiveness is a human concept
To be withheld
For the sake of appearance
When the truth of loss
Is that it can never really die
There is no end to it
When it is dead already.