When a loved one dies, a part of us dies also.
Yet, my experience of death has been that, even as time passes, the worst of
grief fades, and memory may even start to play tricks on us, love sees us continuing to share in the experience of
loving and being loved, the quality of our inner life is all the better for
that.
In the language of flowers the yellow rose is for remembrance. What better icon then for the mind to click on at birthdays, anniversaries, whenever loss makes itself especially felt, than a yellow rose, and let flower the bitter-sweet joy of a happy memory risen above its thorns?
This poem is a kenning.
THE ZEN OF YELLOW ROSES or
I bring
truth
where
imagination would feed
on fear
and speculation,
engage
with those seeking comfort
and
reassurance
in far
darker places than even
Orpheus
searching
for his
lost love in the bowels
of the
Earth
I combat
the terrors
of
sleepless nights spent tossing
and
turning
in early
hours with no respect
for human
dignity
or a
desperation feeding
on such
crumbs of hope
as left
out for birds in winter
at its
worst
I bring a
lasting sense
of peace
to mind, body and spirit,
where
shadows
gather
like key conspirators
with
intent to kill,
yet kept
at bay by a natural
instinct
for survival,
struggle
though it may against
hellish
odds
As a rose
its thorns, to pain I rise above,
who am Remembrance-Peace-Love
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2012
Labels: death, grief, human nature, human spirit, immortality, inspiration, life, love, memories, mind-body-spirit, nature, peace, personal space, poetry, positive thinking, posthumous consciousness, remembrance, roses, zen