I WIll Leave The Last Line For You To Fill

One of the tragedies of growing older is how we see more and more people pass on, even as we wait for our own mortality to kick in. Surviving loved ones is not a blessing, as we find lesser number of breaths intertwined with ours, and our hours spent in longer days.

 

There are several people I remember with great tenderness. Along the years the particularities have started to fade. The slant of a smile, the squelching of eyes, the way some words got spoken, the firmness of a hand on a shoulder, the moments a hug lasted. Lines of a face start fading, we forget when we last laughed, what we last said - what we regretfully didn’t. The only thing which remains with clarity is the glow their memory evokes, the smile which comes when I think of them, and the lump which forms in my throat, when tears start to flow unabashedly.

 

As the years add up, and death seems more a reality than a concept, I hope even if my life doesn’t engender any remembrance, at least, to whoever who thinks of me, they find themselves filled with a glow, even if it is as small as a flame.

 

If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems on the grief and tribulation of passing on -

• She Held His Hand As He Drifted
• When Breath Becomes Air
• What Do I Leave Behind

Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.

Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com

Subscribe to my incandescent and poetic newsletter The Uncuts here - https://theuncuts.substack.com.

 

Following is the music used in this episode -

 

Music: Flying Penguins by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/6-flying-penguins
Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

 

Music: Games Of Octopi by Tim Kulig
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9831-games-of-octopi
Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license