Shifting Generations | A Poem
by Elouise
Fallen Beech, Longwood Meadow Beech Forest
When my mother died in 1999 I felt the first shock of shifting generations. She was the first in my immediate family to go. Since then there have been four more deaths–my father, Diane, and two brothers-in-law. With the latest death, more weight is shifting to our sons and our daughters.
I couldn’t help thinking about this as I sat in the airport last Friday, waiting for our flight to Texas. I got out my notepad and wrote these words.
Shifting Generations
Weary earth quakes
One death more
However predictable
Comes
Goes
Holes in once firm ground
Gaping shocks of horror
Swallow familiar faces
Futures altered to oblivionWhat now?
Who are we
Without you?
And What of all our plans?
______
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 7 May 2015
Photo credit: DAFraser, 29 April 2015
Beech Forest at Longwood Meadow Garden, damaged by a violent storm two years ago. Note side branches putting out new growth.
Telling the Truth 
with life there is death, this life is only a transition, we remember the good deeds, we ignore the rest, blessings
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with death there is also life, rooted in what we leave behind, some good and some not so good
thanks for reading, commenting and sending blessings
Elouise
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there is an after life, and it’s very real, we live in spirit, it’s why so much pressure is put on us to adapt a purely material mindset, blessings
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Yes to an after life that’s real, though the shape of it is yet unknowable. A purely material mindset misses what brings life to our material bodies. In a way, we exist only as spirited bodies or en-souled bodies. Life now and later includes both in a form we can’t imagine in this present world. Blessings to you, as well.
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thanks for your reply, it’s the spirit that keeps us up in the clouds, blessings
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you’re welcome
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Natalie had a similar response when her Granny died this winter. For myself, one of my sisters died the year before I was born and the hole in my family was my reality growing up. Looking back I see her presence as the “elephant in the room,” always there but not acknowledged. This was a major theme of my work with Peter and Carol when in Philly. It is never easy.
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David, Thanks for this comment and for sharing your experience. Absence is sometimes a huge unknown presence. Kudos for doing your ‘never easy’ work.
Elouise
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Thanks for sharing your words.
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You’re welcome, Jennifer. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Elouise
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Yes, death is a part of life. Sometimes, when it comes at an early age to a person in good health, it is a tragedy because that person has not reached his /her full potential. When it came to your brother-in-law it was a grief to his family who expected to enjoy his love and presence for many more years. Sometimes, even at an advanced age, it can be a tragedy because of circumstances. I recall, when I was 14 years old, my great aunt, 78 years old and crippled with arthritis, living in a home for the aged, died when the home burned down. I grieved because she burned to death, a gruesome way to go. This morning my wife’s brother’s wife died. She had lived for many years with fibromyalgia, in almost constant pain. She was in an assisted living facility in Minnesota, contracted pneumonia, the old person’s friend. For her it was a blessing.
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Waldo, Thanks so much for these memories and comments. It’s a good kind of pain to hear about each individual death. The word is so cold and without narrative. It’s easy to think of it as a ‘phase’ we go through. So it is–yet always colored and filled out by the history of that particular death. I hear the blessing in your sister-in-law’s death. I think Mom’s was somewhat similar. Greetings to your dear wife.
Elouise
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Heartbreakingly touching, esp. Loved the last three lines😔
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Thanks for this comment. I feel the agony of those three lines every time I read it.
Elouise
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That’s what the best part of writing is, touching someone and making that special connection that resonates within. For that I thank you my friend.☺️
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You’re welcome. 🙂
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