Dawn Dying is an Oxymoron…

Tags

cancer, death, family, in memory, mom, poetry, remembrance

I only had 25 letters (including spaces!) to work with, when I was deciding what I wanted written on my mother’s urn. Everyone else was getting things like, Beloved _____, Forever in our Hearts, etc… As a writer, I couldn’t have something so cliché. So, after become very frustrated for many days, I looked up the word Dawn. After reading the definition…

 noun
1: the first light of day
2: the earliest period
3: an opening time period
 verb
1: become clear or enter one’s consciousness or emotions
2: appear or develop
3: become light

Synonyms: appear, begin, develop, emerge, glimmer, initiate, lighten, loom, open, originate, rise, show itself, unfold

… the words spilled out of my mouth, and I immediately got a pen and paper, wrote them down, and counted the characters. With spaces and no punctuation– 25 characters exactly.

And they have comforted me ever since. Knowing the first anniversary (for lack of a better word, I will call it milestone) was rapidly approaching, I sat to write…

This is for you, Mom!

Wife. Love.

Bitchie. Mother.

Sister. Friend.

Beginning to end.

 

Beauty rises

as the sun

opens her eyes

to awaken

every possibility

inside

the hearts

of those she touched-

Warming

even the darkest

shadows of doubt

long enough

to never be forgotten.

 

A light so bright

she awakens

even if

the skies seem

grey- unfolding

the mysteries

of the darkest hour-

emerging

a beacon of

truth and reflection-

even as she rests,

the world turns

and time

creates more distance.

 

Nurtured seeds

still sprout.

Strength reserved,

pulled

from the depths

of memory

and promise,

creating

a garden of comfort

powerful enough

to withstand

the hardest,

longest rain.

 

Tears cried-

But never died-

Living on

through every Dawn.

 

[February 20, 2011]