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Just another passing

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Colm Roe
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Just another passing

Post by Colm Roe » Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:31 pm

So you're dead.
You used to reply, when telling people
about the passing of others, and being asked what they died of,
(they expected a specific; a type of cancer, a reason)
'Ah, he died of a Saturday' or whatever day it happened.
Your little joke, or
way to lighten the mood.
Was it your way of removing the touch of it, as its
hand, in those later years, crept so steady
through every cell
you didn't even realise it was already, almost there.
I watched it all, and well past the questioning
I wondered what you thought,
you didn't seem to know, it had crept so steady
it wasn't a thing at all, it became you,
the dying and you got so mixed
all three of us became confused.
You died of a Wednesday
without any great relent.
Just another passing
on another day.

indar
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Just another passing

Post by indar » Thu Dec 10, 2020 9:43 am

Dear Colm,

If condolences are in order please accept them. 

I'd bet almost everyone knows someone like the subject of this write, someone who can't speak seriously about the most serious existential issue that dogs us from the time we become aware of our own mortality. 

Its a way of coping I suppose and it poses a question about whether it matters if we face death head-on or not. Thoughtful write my friend.

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Colm Roe
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:45 am

Re: Just another passing

Post by Colm Roe » Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:27 pm

Hi Linda,
Yes, my father died last week thanks.
It was a happy release. He was a wonderful father :)
So many of my friends either hate or ignore their fathers; they were obviously bad at their jobs.
I suppose I've imitated him, and have a few adult children who appear to be happy with me so far :D
I feel no sense of grief at all, (just thanks and appreciation for all he's done for the whole family) and hope that
comes through in the poem.
He wanted to live forever, and I know that was partially down to a fear of dying; but he slipped easy.
He was 90, married nearly 65 years to a woman he truly loved and made seven children he was proud of...not a bad life!

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Tracy Mitchell
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Re: Just another passing

Post by Tracy Mitchell » Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:35 pm

The studied nonchalance of this narrative is telling. The Narrator presents as just tossing off the thoughts, but there is a quiet intensity which belies deep, unspoken emotion.

"Just another passing", indeed. The Great Mandela turns another round.

No nits, Colm, just admiration.

Cheers.

T

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Colm Roe
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Re: Just another passing

Post by Colm Roe » Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:26 pm

Thanks Tracy.
'Unspoken'...that was him, a quiet man; but you just knew!
I worked with him for over 40 years and we almost never argued in all that time.
And strangely no grief! He lived a long, good life; so it's just a celebration.
I googled the song :) The correct spelling seems to be 'mandala'? Either way, you gotta love them circles :D

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Tracy Mitchell
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Re: Just another passing

Post by Tracy Mitchell » Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:44 am

It makes a difference when there is no sense of an unfinished agenda, and things unresolved.

Still, there is the loss, even when coupled with a sense of completion.

You treat these matters with so much realism and humanity, and never with the splashy sentimentalities.

T

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