I no longer feel your pangs

Tags

death

In a single year

You chose many, severally

Quietly I watched you as you swept by

Striking our patriarch with a cowardly force

‘He’d lived his time,’ I said,

Mocking your futile act

My uncle you lined up next in your path

Extinguishing his sunlight before the moon was up

‘Another ripe fruit,’ I said

Ignoring your choice of the frail

I let your shameless act of valor fade with the darkness

Menacingly, you returned, and struck in quick succession

My cousin’s life you wrung out of his frame

And before the sun was up again,

You seized the air out of my brother’s son

A mere child –

Just to prove you can sting!

And too soon, you’ve returned

Before the moon is full

To take my late brother’s widow

Leaving emptiness in your calamitous trail

But too soon, and too soon again

You’ve numbed me, I feel not your pangs