reminder an elegy by Colleen Keating

reminder

air is riven with grief quiet
staccato of words like whispers
spread a low slow pall shroud
our small communal world

yet in this laden torpor
cicadas still ring their song
timid blue-hearted pansies nod
and in the Harmony garden
a young hibiscus bursts
into flower it’s yellow suns
quiver with meaning

today at the funeral
words of comfort search
dragonflies on the mirrored–
surface of our loss

from a screen memories draw us in
their toasting with wine laughter
arms lovingly encircled
hugs of celebrations
to a backdrop of our tended garden
multi-coloured petunias
the white magnolia
rambling  roses that give and give

this is life it is beautiful
it reminds us of the fable
where a fish asks ‘where is the sea?’
and the wise fish answers ‘you’re in it!’

back at home  sweet scent
of friendship wafts from the garden