HE’S GONE

A poem by my friend Priscilla Holmes, in Africa, after her Father died.

23rd March 2007

It stopped today,

The heart that quickened

In the library,

The heart that started love,

That started me.

And now it’s stopped,

Stopped on a day

When sunbirds came

With whirring wings

To his window.

The sky a blue bowl

Outside the room

Where the old man

Died today.

My Father died today.

Taking away

The last explanation,

The untold secrets,

Taking the final link of the chain

With him.

From today the torch is passed.

And I shall move the pieces on the board.