There Is a Residue of Hope

November 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is death, in honor of the transition from Halloween to All Saints’ Day and then to All Souls’ Day, which is the Mexican Day of the Dead.

Today’s poem is to a deceased father about the end of grief.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is a residue of hope

In every act of grief,

A beauty at the source of pain,

A truth that brings relief.

Mourning is a morning song

Sung just before the light,

Though little else is visible

To those that watch the night.

And all our tears must turn to grass,

And all our sorrows be

But dissonance that we'll resolve

In some new harmony.

And all our pain must shine upon

The meadows of our grace

That you might share our happiness

And lend our light your face.

Ah, Father! Yes, the music plays

As we dance in the sun,

For dawn returns the joy of life,

And we must all dance on.

Ah, Father! Yes, we must dance on

And leave you far behind,

Though love undo the dying day

And comb the rising wind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/residu.html . For more poems about death, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Death.

October 31: In Memory of Those Who Died

November 1: Here’s a Little Ditty

November 2: I Am the Mirror of Our Love

November 3: I Didn’t Get a Chance to Say Goodbye

November 4: Every Time I See My Pansies

November 5: There Is a Residue of Hope