Tree of Light 2024

“A long year has passed since you took your last breath,

Still sleeping but the life inside you had left,

The clock still ticked indignantly on,

The minutes continued as if nothing was wrong,

Minutes turned to hours and hours to days,

And people went about in their ordinary ways,

We drifted along as we knew we ought to,

And well-meaning friends said the things they’d been taught to,

Flowers, cards and dinners – even hugs in the street,

All petered out as the days turned to weeks,

The final yellow leaves prepared themselves to fall,

As another vibrant autumn took its curtain call,

The baton handed over to the bitter, winter season,

That offered a cold and empty hand with little rhyme or reason,

Our thoughts and feelings echoed by the dark and dreary hours,

Until one day, the sun picked up and presented spring-time flowers,

This glint of light extinguished though, as you’d been left behind,

But there were moments that we’d see you in the treasures that we’d find,

White feathers, robin-red-breasts, radiant rainbows in the sky,

Were your way of telling us, you’re always standing by,

And so, we soldiered on as we knew you’d want us to,

“Put on your big girl’s pants and your lipstick too!”

Spring traded place with Summer and the days grew long and bright,

We’d learnt to put on a brave face and let the tears fall out of sight,

People stopped asking so we didn’t think to tell,

“Great thanks, fine, fantastic, and yes, the family’s all well”,

And so the calendar’s gone full-circle, another autumn almost done,

A whole year without you – how can you still be gone?!

They say that time’s a healer, but these emotions feel just as new,

So I suppose we’ll wait another year to discover if that’s true……”