Ballad In a Graveyard

Behold my brother, MDG Handsome, gifted, crazy Living his days in drudgery Thoughts unfocused, hazy He takes his hat off in the rain Looks down upon her grave He sinks to earth in melting pain Her life he could not save He loved her then, still loves her now Helpless as he sits here She gave to him her lifelong vow That he should never fear Her going before him in death He was the older one He’d be first to draw the last breath That promise, now undone Leaves him lonely to start new life He does not know how to Begin afresh without his wife He struggles to bow to What he cannot comprehend – Shorn of his beloved Filled with a grief that never ends Life? How can he live it? Now he feels enraged, quite angry Nothing’s fair about this! So he sets out, mean and hungry To try to make right this Situation (aberration Is more like it he thinks --) To refuse death’s sad invitation He shakes his head and blinks For there, before him, standing tall A shadow figure waits From its petrified fingers fall First closed, then open gates One portal to the unknown days, The other, portal past He shifted back and forth his gaze Then suddenly, he gasped Through portal past he saw himself Lost, grave side, deep in pain And then that scene resolved itself In pouring, golden rain Through the portal of unknown days He sees her peaceful face And seeks to trust God’s unknown ways On earth, in time and space He decided not to fight it Or beg his lover back No need to undo or right it He saw there was no lack Her peaceful face shone in his mind Her spirit touched his soul His vision cleared, no longer blind His heart was healed, made whole The pouring rain lets slowly go The earth that holds the grave His mind fills up with Spirit’s glow He’s clean, reborn and brave He can now face his life alone Until his time to die He knows her soul’s not trapped in stone She’s always by his side He’s happy now, with many friends Who understand his peace He lost his need to make amends Their love will never cease