BROTHERS & SISTERS

                    









                                                                

After the party, you left

For the long haul of your flight

And your sister was bereft,

Daughters to her left and right,

Gently dabbing at her eyes.

Bruised and asunder,

Deep sobs and sighs

Came from way down under

The gap you’d left behind

Which seems to epitomise

In her brooding mind

All of the loss that lies

Weeping in our tangled past,

Where nothing seems to last.

But so it goes in this life:

Apart from our absent brother,

We are all husband and wife

To some significant other

And our various family ties

Us all up in knots and tangles

Of whats, hows and whys,

Trying to work out the angles

Of Time’s fathomless geometry;

But wherever we all are,

The roots of our family tree,

Will reach near and deep and far

To make a future out of the past,

For as long as we can all make it last.

 

(C. IGR 2012)

The picture was taken at a joint birthday party for Lisa and I. We're flanked by my sisters - Rina on the left and Lorraine to the right. They were exceptionally close sisters, emotionally and geographically, until Lorraine emigrated to New Zealand. She was back home for a holiday which happily coincided with our party.