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User Rating:
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7.0
/10
(5 votes)
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Last year my mother died.
I was not there; she died alone.
It was mid-winter when
we buried her. The roads were treacherous
that day, the coldest of the year.
Few people made it to the funeral,
the church was nearly empty.
My son and daughter each
read out a poem
she had written in her younger days.
The priest, who had not known her,
said the prayers. From there we went
by car, the tyres crunching on the ice,
to where the grave had been prepared
in the cemetery that waited
on the outskirts of the town.
The ground was frozen hard.
We stood and listened to the prayers
the priest intoned, tall and upright
there above the open grave while
all the time the icy wind blew
flurries of snow over the graves
and by the groves of evergreens,
So cold, so bleak, so utterly unforgettable
the scene, but what was strange:
I did not mind the cold,
that seeped into my heart and bones.
It seemed somehow appropriate.
Pete Crowther
| Submitted Date |
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Tuesday, January 03, 2006 |
| Submitted Date |
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Monday, January 16, 2006 |
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Comments about this poem (A Cold Day in January
by
Pete Crowther
) |
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Melvina Germain (8/13/2006 2:19:00 AM)
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I love this poem, it speaks to the heart. A truly sad time, expressed so well. Thankyou for sharing.------Melvina
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Shannon Dionne Gordon Clawson (6/14/2006 1:07:00 PM)
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This poem really touched me. It reminds me of the time my dear Grandpa died. I didn't live nearby and so could not be there when he died, but I couldn't even go to his funeral to say a final goodbye, which was the worst thing that could've happened to me at that time. I had to say goodbye in my dreams, and for a long time I felt cold, like the cold wind in your poem.
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Scarlett Treat (2/5/2006 7:55:00 PM)
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How right, that the weather should fit the bleakness, the pain in your heart. I felt the aloneness, the hurt. I to have lost my mother, and she was my dearest and best friend, and tho' it has been a long time, this work freshened my pain, because it was 12 years ago this month that she left me. Thank you for helping me remember how much I miss her. Linda
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Tan Pratonix (2/3/2006 5:10:00 AM)
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You have a great talent for writing. Excellent poem. But I wonder if your religious views can reconcile with my friend Tom Prato?
Regards
Tan
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Elya Thorn (1/30/2006 12:01:00 PM)
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sad, and the winter that seems to be your soul in those days, very beautiful analogy! a great piece of work!
~~Elya Thorn~~
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Lori Boulard (1/16/2006 1:37:00 PM)
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Beautiful, particularly the last lines. And how wonderful that poetry has woven itself through the generations! Small note: I suspect you meant 'known' in line 11. Just me being picky, but a nice read regardless.
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Rene Bennett (1/15/2006 9:11:00 PM)
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My heart to yours. I too lost my mother. Something I to this day find so hard to accept. She was my life. Your poem is excellent and yuor imagery is beautiful.
Wishing you a gentle healing.
Rene'
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Linda Preston (1/5/2006 5:01:00 PM)
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A nice musicality to this poem - certainly makes you feel that cold.
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A. B. (1/4/2006 5:52:00 AM)
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A well written sad and touchy poem. Sorry for your loss Pete.
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Read all
12
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