Sally Eslinger | + Follow Poet |
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In Memoriam Quietly Always Close

In Memoriam Quietly Always Close

Are they whispers, then, settling
So gently upon that slightest breeze wending
     Over the granite crosses and statues of cradling angels,
     Which stand in their long cemetary rows?
Stating each name of the one passed on with
There-on etched, too, the noting of time alive
And telling of the beloved, who hum there their slow laments;
Who send up colorful balloons to celebrate their love and
Take far their silent greetings in the sky.

Are they lullaby heartsongs, which 
Rise on sprigs of heaven-bound light,
So tunefully sweet for love’s addressed, aided
By a league of angellic composers
In their lyrical rounds from above our earthly sphere?

Are these the places of our hushed sympathies?
The places we lay over our dear ones
All the broken pieces of  the grieving heart’s still longing 
To stay in some way forever near, and, so, we linger thoughtfully
Criss-crossing the undulating final verdigris
 Landscape, which embraces the last remains ~
Resting on in heaven’s wait for that further journey going on.

Are these faint mists surrounding 
So many hours of our own remaining days —
     Which are spent summoning back the stories, the touches,
     The eyes that happily cast their glance into our own —
Not truly our tears 
Being turned to magnifying memories,
Prayerfully appearing with each
Dusk’s close of day  and placid rise of the radiant moon?

Do see that the soundless falling is our aching?
Is a furor — burst of pure, white snow:
A flash of a blizzard, looking nearly weightless,
Landing in silence, but
Incongruously,  falling heavily down, into those forming crystalline layers
To dress a seeming lace-like çover over all the stone markers
With a luminous beauty, revealing a metaphor, ineffable
~ Blessed markers of life itself set here before us
Within reach of meeting the Divine.


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(c) sally young eslinger 6/5/2023
(Written for Jennifer Wilson & Maggie Hopkins in loving
  Memory of James Hopkins, spouse, father, & friend) Also written with the inspiring power of images of the 9,000 marking gravestone crosses in Normandy, France, and sights of Arlington Cemetary, Washington, D.C.
Written to unaccompanied cello Suite 1 in G major, perfomer Yo Yo Ma
Thanks be to God…

Copyright © Sally Eslinger | Year Posted 2023

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Victor Buhagiar Date: 6/6/2023 9:35:00 AM We are born to live, but death comes to us. A tribute to those who died for their country. Login to Reply Sally Eslinger Date: 6/6/2023 9:45:00 PM Victor, thanks for reading & commenting. My dad & brother both are vets. Dad made us very conscious of the vast tolls of WWII. So many of those lessons have only really sunk in as i’ve gotten older. Hugs

Bill Baker Date: 6/6/2023 7:17:00 AM A beautiful tribute to life and death and the rememberance of those that have done their part. Those brave men and women that served their fellowman to the death. Bless them, dear God. Thank you for honoring them and painting such a beautiful picture with your imagery, Sally. A FAV for my list, my friend. Smiles ~ Blessings Bill Login to Reply

Vijay Pandit Date: 6/6/2023 5:42:00 AM Awesome tribute you wrote, Sally. You held my attention from start to finish with the power of your vocabulary. Login to Reply Sally Eslinger Date: 6/6/2023 9:40:00 PM Vjay, thanks for coming to read & comment. Your kind words are a super support. This is a poem that took 2 days to write. I still shed tears over the current events of ‘68. Often wonder how long mourning can last. Thus the catalyst for penning this. hugs, sally