Family Reunion Poem by Alicia Patti

Family Reunion

Rating: 5.0


Two men dressed in gray
asked us to leave the grieving room.
The son is here, they said.
Reluctantly I left my sister’s resting place
and, in single file, we slowly stepped
while voicing our consternation.

He stood so still at the bottom
of the ramp, all appendages clamped
against a flight for freedom,
although he would never choose
to flee from this dark sight:
his dear mother passed into night.

Like the funeral march to come
we lumbered passed the orange form,
each attempting not to stare, but none
succeeding in averting angry eyes
from shuffling feet and stiffened fingers
bent in supplication. His guards, staring
straight ahead, had eyes of dripping ice.

Charles ducked his head as I approached,
As though he feared a slap of indignation.
But I saw the fleeting years: his youthful
smile, his innocence, the stolen dreams.
Such mixed emotions as he held me
in his muscled arms, this lost child fully grown,
blood of my blood.

One moment more to kiss his
hardened cheek before they rushed him
up that unforgiving slope, their icy eyes
still staring dead ahead. And then
a blur of orange-blue, and all hope
gone to let him know I loved him still.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
David Harris 27 January 2007

Alicia, you grab the reader and take him on a tour of sadness at a family reunion. Into your world I tumble seeing everything through your eyes. Sheer magic. Sad, but still a great poem. David

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