“The Condolence Call” – Marsha Barber
by richibi
_______________
when you’ve known this, or know
someone who’s known this, this
poem will be profoundly affecting
Richard
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The Condolence Call
I cradle the phone gently.
You are so far away.
Your grief surrounds you now
like a moat full of dark water.
I cannot reach
far enough to comfort you.
My words flit around useless
as flies.
What, after all, can be said?
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, you say.
I imagine I would have howled.
I imagine I would have rolled on the floor.
But in the end, I cannot begin to imagine.
I’ll be okay, you say,
but your voice is so remote,
as if you’ve left us all
behind,
for a bleaker planet
where the air is charred,
and you cannot find the path
that leads
back home.*
* once there was a way to get back
homewards …
and in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make
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