FINAL JOURNEY

This poem, from my Strange Journey collection (2012), was written following the untimely death of a friend's mother. Obviously, therefore, it's factual, but I hope it manages to transcend mere reportage.

Old Postcard of Torteval Church

 
FUNERAL AT TORTEVAL

The heart beats, now, a mourning drum
behind the coffin held aloft.
Head bowed, you step, back ramrod-straight,
blue light, through stained-glass, falling soft,
from the black car beyond the gate
into the congregation’s hum.

Grief carves a beauty in your face  
or highlights what was there before,
unrecognised.  You seem to shine,
to have become not less but more,
while others’ faces, at this shrine
to gracefulness, lack any grace.

The hedgerow birds, today, seem dumb
as one by one the black cars leave:
you by your crumpled father’s side,
consoling him, holding his sleeve,
so full of elegance, dry-eyed,
with redefined years yet to come.