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Love
is so rare, any such handful of ash
holds the whole world's weight.
~Mary Karr
The following poem, written by Mary Karr, with change of adjectives and gender could describe my own experience...
ENTERING THE KINGDOM
~Mary Karr
As the boy's bones lengthened,
and his head and heart enlarged,
his mother one day failed
to see herself in him.
He was a man then, radiating
the innate loneliness of men.
His expression was ever after
beyond her. When near sleep
his features eased towards childhood,
it was brief.
She could only squeeze
his broad shoulder. What could
she teach him
of loss, who now inflicted it
by entering the kingdom
of his own will?
******
...When is it late enough to write about our loss, in a way that can be redemptive? Perhaps, like Milosz...
Late Ripeness
Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year
I felt a door opening in me and I entered
the clarity of early morning.
One after another my former lives were departing
like ships together with their sorrow.
And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas
assigned to my brush came closer,
ready now to be described better than before.
I was not separated from people, grief and pity joined us.
We forget—I kept saying—that we are all children of
the King...
~Czeslaw Milosz
Quote, Mary Karr, from poem, "A Tapestry Figure Escapes for Occupancy in the Real World, Which Includes the Death of Her Mother," Mary Karr, Sinners Welcome, p. 43
Poem, "Entering the Kingdom," Mary Karr, Sinners Welcome, p. 32
Poem, a portion of the poem, "Late Ripeness," by Czeslaw Milosz, as quoted by Mary Karr in Sinners Welcome, p. 93
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