{"id":1742,"date":"2010-05-13T13:03:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T19:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2011-08-30T15:26:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T21:26:04","slug":"when-they-leave-us-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/archives\/1742","title":{"rendered":"When They Leave Us Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"

My poem bone is decidedly rusty, but at a funeral recently I had an image – that of trying to describe the arc of someone’s life being similar to trying to describe how tremendous a shooting star was to someone who didn’t see it – and I thought I could expand it into a poem about grief. Let me know what you think:<\/p>\n

When They Leave Us Behind<\/em><\/p>\n

We quietly live out our everyday lives,
\nAssuming the world in its entirety thrives,
\nAnd it’s as if we are suddenly one day struck blind
\nWhen they leave us behind.<\/p>\n

When they leave us behind, we freeze
\nIn a bolt of dismay; feel the breeze
\nAs a foul wind that sets our once-warm cheeks to stone.
\nWe want neither company nor to be alone,
\nWhen they leave us behind.<\/p>\n

When they leave us behind, we marvel
\nAt the astonishing pattern their lives made in travel,
\nAnd we vainly explain – “‘Twas so bright and so far!”
\nBut we’re describing the movement of a shooting star,
\nWhen they leave us behind.<\/p>\n

When they leave us behind, we end
\nAnd reflect on those gone as our lives we suspend,
\nThen crawl into the light where the world still performs;
\nBut that’s wrong, and will never again be our norm,
\nWhen they leave us behind.<\/p>\n

When they leave us behind, we ache
\nIn the missing pieces of us that they take.
\nOur phantom pain tingles and itches and races
\nUntil we’re finally able to fill in the spaces,
\nWhen they leave us behind.<\/p>\n

—-Dee Cook, 2010<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My poem bone is decidedly rusty, but at a funeral recently I had an image – that of trying to describe the arc of someone’s life being similar to trying to describe how tremendous a shooting star was to someone who didn’t see it – and I thought I could expand it into a poem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2147,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions\/2147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addlepated.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}