This is a poem I wrote in tribute of the daughter of a dear friend, Paul, who died of cancer aged only 21 years. It professes my belief that death is not the end of existence but an ‘ever-flowing’ continuum. I have tried to establish the feeling of joy, fragility and sorrow which accompanies the death of a child (similarly the death of our Samuel, our own boy) – but in this case the demise of a dearly beloved young lady with immense potential. The structure of the poem is based on the Gaelic concept of ‘caim’ – which means a ‘circle’ and I have employed it in terms of a revolving and flowing life, a circle of family members and friends and a wholeness, a connected spirit of being.
Caim
The child of my soul was an apple seed
Composed in bliss, an eternal kiss on the eve;
Summer’s honey; fragrant exchange of passion
Two became one in rapture.
Gentle breath from a slowly arising sun,
Her tender limbs grew into empty rooms, life
Love, laughter, and joy, the whistle of leaves
Wind delicate mosaic of music.
A melodious heart with transparent wings
Beautiful but fragile form of aspirations
Diadem of moon; silent and solemn witness
Sharpened teeth of a violent black storm.
Astringent clouds swirling down, maleficent
Before her first blossoming, cut and snatched
And complete silence now, an empty room
Space beyond the grasp of our fingertips.
Deep longing for one more warm embrace
A yearning for confirmation of essence
Which is now but an echo, lost in faraway
Flickering light in the bosom of the west.
A despair that trembles in tides, and out
Tears flowing from the oceans’ depths
The core of an apple reveals the seed
The memory of her...
Which is the soul of my child.
All Rights Reserved & Copyright // David John Drew // July 2008
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