Compass and Captain

Grief washes over me like waves on the ocean
A salty mist dries on my cheeks
And I hear cries like seagulls' resounding in my skull
As though they, too, had lost something
And are searching to find it again

Somewhere deep inside
Fathoms beneath this stormy surface
I float whole in a darkness interrupted only
By thick opulescent glimmers of light
Filtered through layers of life

I am cradled in fathoms of pain
Cocooned in anguish
Inured, imbedded, smothered, surrounded
It becomes a buffer
Distant echoes
Sound off the rocks & crags of my life

I still breathe
I still function
The sea of humanity rushes on about me

Sometime
This grief will break against the shores
My goodbyes will no longer be this undulating unending silent wail
They will become a more accepted part of the canvas of my life
And I will sing a softer song of sorrow.

Today, newly bereft,
I must say my goodbyes to Compass and Captain
A salty mist drenches my cheeks
And I hear cries like seagulls' resounding in my skull
As though they, too, had lost something
This grief washes over me like waves
.....................on a very large ocean.

For my mother
On the death of her beloved brother, Lyal Duane Asay