Bereaved

 

Oh God, Oh Lord

Can such misfortune fall

On someone on the earth

That the poor soul might suffer

The untimely death of all

He held close to his heart?

Can someone live pierced all life

With a dissecting sword?

What consoling gesture

You extend to unbearably bereaved,

To the eyes dried tearless to stone     

To the father torn of his children

Robbed of his beloved, so grieved!?              

Death, you are cruel, it’s known,

But this is cruelty beyond measure!

Is it the cursing sigh

Of some suffering poor?

Is it the karma of past lives

Flooding over unseen

Through  the present’s door?

Is it the plan of the heaven

To crush out the best wine?    

What’s the truth nigh?

(After visiting Shanti Niketan, June 6, 2016)

Xavier Bage

Tues, June 14, 2016