The Clear Running Water

What can one say
that has not already
been said before?
What can one do
that has not already
been done before?

Prayed
Teared
Wept
Cried
Cursed
Screeched
Screamed
Blasphemed
Howled
Moaned
Wailed
Groaned

Slept by the grave
Punched the wall
Fell down the stairs
Stepped off the kerb
Tried to ride the car off the ravine
Crashed the car into the wall
Stepped off the cliff
Jumped off a waterfall
Drove into the horizon
Disappeared into the night

It's all been done
All the melodrama, all the misery
all the cerekarama, all the grief
It's all been repeated endlessly
Overplayed
yet eternally insufficient, meaningless
Such a ridiculous comedy of errors
That we must try to live, to struggle, to survive
And then, in the blink of an eye, it all becomes pointless
What is there left to think, to say, to speak, to feel?
What do I do now that it is irrevocable, undeniable?

You're gone.
No more dimpled laughs
No more happy smiles
No more home-cooked meals
No more hugs
No more words
No more perfume
No more lip-prints on the glass
No more scrawled notes
No more curly hair on the hairbrush
No more music
No more hope
No more sanity

Victoria Anthony
You took it all with you
When you left us
Here we stand, your family
Souls departed
From these, our shells of pulsing blood
Lifeless, listless
Staring mindlessly
At the clear running water
Waiting for the day
When it can all end
And we can be together

Is that too much to hope?
I daren't think...


Anne Varghese (2005)