The Passing

a poem by thenorm

We walked along the shore,

Our hearts hidden in the sand.

He turned towards me slowly,

Taking my love into his hands.

"Does not my passing please my love,"

He asked so caringly,

"Does not my passing please my love,

Of whom I think so endlessly?"

I gazed into his eyes,

Then had to look away.

"Your passing does not please me, Love.

Pass another day."

My eyes were slowly misting,

I feigned he did not see.

He scooped to save a starfish,

Send him home into the Sea.

Quietly, he whispered,

Imploring once again,

"Let my passing please you, Love,

Or this shall spell our end."

"Why should your passing please me,

When it's you that I desire?

My love of life began with you,

You set my soul on fire!"

"If dead to you, then dead I be,

We shall not meet again.

If I am dead, then love is dead,

Never to begin.

Let my passing please you, Love.

Find it well with peace."

I fought not to break the silence

As we pondered on the reef.

Cuttingly, I mocked him,

With my soul of disbelief.

I held my tongue at first,

Then said with grim inflection.

"Should your passing please your love

For the soul of the Resurrection?"

He struggled not to reprimand me

For the tasteless jest I'd made.

"Your heart has turned to stone,"

He cried. "And our love will so soon jade."

"No," I thundered back,

"No pleasure in my eyes!"

"Go, if you must go,

But I've no solace in the skies!"

He turned his back towards me,

For the pain was on his face.

My mouth would not keep still;

I could not stop my pace.

"O my love, come closer now,

I want you not to go.

Within you, be there strength;

I know you can say no!"

"My love, I can say no,

In so many rebellious tones.

But time has come that I should pass,

So now, I must go home.

Be you not so selfish, Love,

For with Life, I've lost my lease.

O, let my passing please you, Love,

That I may pass in peace."

"Why," I cried again,

Tears streaming from my eyes.

"Why must you so soon leave me now

For your home within the skies?"

"Just let my passing please you, Love,

You know I don't know why."

We sat so still in silence,

My heart kept slowly breaking.

The pain was from the only love

That from me, Death was taking.

Redundantly, he called to me,

Saying once again,

"Let my passing please you, Love,

Or this will be our end."

"Then end it will and end it must,"

I roared with hollow heart.

"I curse the day that we did meet,

Our sordid love did start!

Your passing cannot please me;

When you die, you are just dead.

Die today, go away,

Lest you strip my soul instead!

Your passing cannot please me, Love;

It will not set me free.

Go, if you must go

But you take my heart's key.

We shall not meet again;

We both know you just die!

Fairy tales you have read

Do fill your head with lies!"

He recoiled at my words,

Shriveling all the while.

"Then Love, I must just leave you now

To walk my last long mile."

He stood and I stood with him,

Begging him not to leave.

His heart did look so heavy,

For the hatred inside of me.

My heart did echo hollow;

My soul of disbelief.

I saw our love just falling, falling,

Like the fallen tree and leaf.

Childlike, I whispered,

Little hope lived in my question.

"Could your passing please me

If I believed in the Resurrection?"

"My passing would be comforted,"

He replied with some reflection,

"If you could remember it

In celebration of the Resurrection."

"All this that I feel -

Are my feelings wrong?

You leave me with this void;

I feel dead but must go on.

"'Tis the path of nature;

Just love it, let it be.

In time, this time of passing

Will bring you strands of peace."

I resigned myself to comfort

And let his passing be.

I watched as the wind swept him up

And left him in the Sea.

Quietly, I whisper,

For I know his spirit hears,

"I will let your passing please me, Love,

And always keep you near."

In loving memory of

Margaret Elizabeth Sikes

And

John Harold Dees, III (Trip)