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And My Father Pt1 - a poem reflecting on my grief

zenaedwardsis

I wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR at the beginning of 2024 first and foremost, because I really meant it.

I'd hoped everybody had had a fantastic, restful and rejuvenating festive season and that 2024 was a clear view, a verdant vistas of fantastic abundance in sight for all.

I was personally feeling positive and hopeful despite having a profound life moment happen.


I met my Father for the first time on July 5th, 2023. He passed away on December 10th 2023, aged 77. I'm 54 years old, so it was a long wait... 158 days we walked the planet in full knowledge of each others connection confirmed.


I was in Brockwell Park capturing the cities natural world on my mobile for something, I didn't know what at the time, but I started to casually fit images together in a some sort of coherent way that seemed poetic.. when I unexpectedly needed to write words. I then recorded the audio of my voice...edited the words to the moving visual images... and burst into tears.


Click to enlarge viewing


AND MY FATHER We were meant to meet

Through a dna search service

We really were those passing ships

Passing souls, passing.

We were meant to meet

Through a dna search service


You knew me as Poet, how, I am yet to discover

But you knew about me.

Bought my plane ticket 2 days later

I arrived with the calm of the philosophical present,

unencumbered by the past - it is what it is, you know.

No questions. No demands. Just Love.


We were meant to meet

Meant to know each other's voice

Have the timbre of each other's tones of relief, curiosity,

wander around our middle ears

Be in the proximity of each other's scent

Know the soft felt of each other's hands

Our palms meeting in a clasp

That had crossed time - 54 years since I'd held your little finger.


You threw your head back and laughed at new-born me

With that funny little laugh Mum said you had.

Which you did have, and which I heard

and held like the Earth re-sounding

Almighty God blessed Yes, as a puzzle piece dropped

from a great height into my chest

when I finally met you


'My twin', you said.

"I know God loves me," you said. Twice.

Three times.


You started a sentence with “I remember,” and

I tried not to hold my breath -

"Meeting your mother at - "

You couldn't remember at first.

Searched with cloudy eyes,

glancing over the indefinite

Landing on the certain - "THE Q CLUB!"

That's right. The Q Club. Confirmed.

You lit up and I flipped a back-flip inside

And it was all made real cos you nodded and smiled, and

All I could do was take your hand again

As you slipped into sleep, faded into warmth

Drooped into comfort snoozing - she made it.

She found us.


Always knew I would. Just not when.

And then a few phone calls

We spoke about blood sugar levels

about feeling better than yesterday

and how lonely is a lonely thing.

About staying positive

And about how I talked made words

mean something different

and about that day at that house.


Those few calls, when you spoke fast out of nerves

then slowed your roll

so our connection could catch up

Make me happy, because

if I'd not known how to fret for a second parent - making sure

they were eating right -

I'd not have been able to enjoy the day

I spoke to my Mother and my Father,

the Atlantic Ocean and dozen life times apart,

both having a good day.




~ Z ~

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