Five Smooth Stones
When death occurs and the loss attends our space,
We set aside our daily tasks – replace
Our set routines, do tasks which must be done
So we can live, and life can onward run.It’s that way now – for loss has many forms –
Some quick, some slow, achieved or failed reforms;
Not just for us, for others on our block,
We’re not alone, together roads we walk.This weekend long, I spent on past repairs –
Fixed software glitch, the junk reduced by layers;
“It lightens load, why let it build like this?”
I ask myself, then see the part I’d missed –We do not factor loss into our time,
And what it takes procedure to refine;
As strength drops off, capacity is seen
To ebb away – resource less than it’s been.For loss is death in bits and pieces now;
Then in the end, the rest goes anyhow;
We longer live than former days ’round here –
Death stretches out – the end for each less clear.At funeral time, community attends
To re-build ties, as bond with one now ends;
It seems we need six funerals in our lives,
To let things go, so all the rest survives.I cannot see the parts which will work out;
The Spirit guides our actions when in doubt;
Without that aid, my life a mess would be –
More than it is – for chaos here you see.Now I recall – “Five stones pick up at first;
Then take a sixth, and throw away the worst;
Then, as you walk the gravel road you’re on,
Your stash improves, the less desired are gone”.navigation