If it wasn't for poetry

With the sudden loss of my dear wife,
In distant home land, I could not save her of heart attack,
With funeral pyres cremating her on banks of holy river,
Heart cried for weeks, family in shock for months.

Crying must become stealth, as work survival got critical,
The deep sorrow and shock got stacked in wounded heart,
Tears dried up externally, but flowed with emotions internally,
The feelings and longing for each other stayed in my heart forever,

Some internet friends, asked me to write my feelings,
A verse, a lament, whatever poured out of my heart,
After month of trials, one day the heart opened in poems.

The poems started pouring out some 20 years ago,
Some were love poems, some bore loneliness,
Some described her beauty and saw her in garden roses,
Heard her songs in the waves on beautiful beaches.

If it was not her loss, I would not have written a poem in my life,
My engineering training lacked vocabulary and knowledge of poems,
Wrote almost three hundred poems in next three years,
All in free verse without knowing abcd of poetry writing.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2023

Poem

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Goldsmith Avatar
December 6, 2023 at 8:23 AM
Congratulations on your win. So sorry about your loss. A lovely write/story/great ending. Keep up the good writing... Have a wonderful day with your win...............
George Avatar
December 5, 2023 at 9:49 PM
Like you, it was with a crisis in life that i too started writing poetry. I feel for your loss dear Jay. Hope you have recovered from the initial shock. Life has to go on. It is great that from an engineering background, you have emerged into a first rate poet. Congratulations on your win.
Andresen Avatar
December 5, 2023 at 9:53 AM
- Congratulations on your first place in the "If it wasn't for poetry" poetry contest, Jay :) - Poetry soup the magical world of poems ... a journey through soul and heart :) - hugs
Mandani Avatar
December 5, 2023 at 9:41 AM
Well, look at the bright side... It made a poet out of you! You 'engineered' a good poem.
One Avatar
December 5, 2023 at 8:40 AM
Pain makes us into poets.. Thank you for taking part in the contest and congratulations on your first place.
Volumes Avatar
November 29, 2023 at 6:00 PM
Jay you are an exceptional poet. Your words always speak a sincerity and a truth. I love reading your verses. This one has such deep feeling, I am sure your wife's love was guiding your hands to help you produce such a beautiful poem.
Roper Avatar
November 27, 2023 at 4:28 PM
My condolence, Jay. The pain of a soul mate is deep. It's been five years since my husband died of also of heart failure. I too have written so many poems of the loss. Good luck in Silent One's contest.
Narain Avatar
November 28, 2023 at 9:51 AM
Sorry to know how painful is the separation of soul mates. May God bless our souls.
M  Avatar
November 27, 2023 at 12:36 PM
Oh Jay….how very ,very lovely and touchin….Straight from your heart! Debx
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