The pastor might always be at work when another human is nearby. She needs some friends - friends notice, because friends you let see.
Your poem is really really excellent. Succinct (yes, even you can do that), simple and pure. The use of the invitation as a foundation is brilliant, and very effective. I think anyone who finishes the poem will see the invitation's purpose in the piece. For me, the missing invitation (to a marking of a passage), is left in the ether, but very much there, just like the lost life. No final line is needed. Let those who really understand the poem feel the unsent invitation, or the invitation in the mail, whichever they would want to do. I really love this thing, it's perfect.
That is high praise indeed! Thank you Stacey! All I really wanted these words to do was let you know how very much you're on my mind and in my heart. You've cheered ME up. You are a marvelous poet and short-story writer, and you've inspired me and made my day more than I can measure. Thanks again. :)
It's mutual, love. xo
I found a website full of poems for mothers and sons. This:
Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/for-the-need-of-you
OK so your poem is hands down much much better than any of those. I read at least six of them. Yours is more insightful and incisive, cuts its message into the reader's heart, instead of merely talking about a cut heart. Yours is original, those are all the same.
But the provided quote, yes. I had those feelings while he was still living though, because he did not thrive physically for the last, oh, twelve years or so. His/my loss is different. I'll miss him. Today is my first day alone, without any of the women who supported me through his passing and beyond, and I am going through those motions one after the other.
I'm thinking of you all the more today Stacey, alone with the cats and dear Hazel the dog, gong through the motions of the living because you are still living! You are alive! You are so very alive and vibrant and gifted with talents beyond counting. You are kind and good. The world needs more people like you. Sometimes I think the main reason we don't get to "know" there's life after death (a good afterlife, at that) is because so many of us would just quit this life NOW to go join our lost loved ones. Why go on, if there's a better place, and we could go there now? I'm confident you'll hang in there Stacey - you are still needed here on earth, which is what I keep telling my mom, who's almost 85 now, and has buried three daughters, and I must remind her that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren NEED her, here and now, and she doesn't get to cash it all in just yet... maybe I need to find a better approach. (I know, I know.) She is a font of wisdom and a model of endurance. The mold is broken; resilient, enduring women like her seem to belong to the last century, not this one. She makes me look like a snowflake. So when she sighs and says why bother to fix the furnace when I may not live to see another winter, you know it's time to remind her of all that is good in this world and make her feel loved, needed, and valued. As your daughters and so many others must remind you that YOU are....
Thank goodness for supportive, strong women. They are keeping me going. You are as strong as your mother, having endured all those traumas too! This is something I tend to forget - all of Niko's traumas were mine as well. We learn patience and develop deep deep love through these events. All those lovely things you said about me are true about you.
Last night was my first night alone. I realized that I have never lived alone before in my 67 years!!! I could not sleep at all. Got me a massage scheduled for later this morning. Played backgammon with a friend yesterday evening. Going through the motions, when I am not doubled over with grief.
Your mother must fix the furnace. Winter will be here very soon.
xo