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UNDEFINED

UNDEFINED  (a true story)

The morning after the total housefire, 52 years ago, when 
    the journalist asked the elderly man, 
“How do you feel after this tragic, sudden death of your wife?”  
I’d expected to hear a few sad words 
     in response to the intrusive question,
But his unforgettable answer changed my life,
As he  stated, “I looked up ‘grief’ in the dictionary 
     and none of the definitions listed fit what I was feeling.
In  the on-screen, hanging silence
Created by his unexpected response,
The interview ended there, holding on to
     a side shot of the old man backing away     
       — with his new weight  from the loss 
     of home and wife…
As he shrugged his shoulders
While letting go a great sigh,  and
   To define in that last shown moment, 
In universal body language,
The Un-knowing
 That may wallow within us
Around our resignation to grow past difficult times,
To venture out again to 
Places where things may lay  as yet undefined
    and, therefore, beyond control…
Where tears may  for awhile be our sole recourse 
To  stand for the words of our sorrows 
That we share kneeling in prayer for  some
Divine guidance to face the  further exigencies of life.




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(c) sally young eslinger 6/ 2024


Copyright © Sally Eslinger

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Book: Shattered Sighs