Sunday, 3 January 2016

Lament

Life, as I was yet to know it, changed irrevocably in the early hours of the 15th of May 1969.

I was there, I am told, at the heart of the unfolding drama. A sleeping babe, cocooned in the blissful unawareness of early age. The deafening roar of a single bullet, shocking and unexpected, preceding years of intrigue and speculation.  Memories buried in the trauma of loss.

A head wound, self-inflicted, brought an early conclusion to the life an unhappy family man. When viewed with an historical eye, this in itself, was unsurprising given the family predilection for ghastly endings. A firmly established pattern of escape from the torture of disappointed hopes and dreams.

What may be surprising is a life then lived in an abundance of love. Maternal familial bonds so strengthened that what was so tragically life altering became a blessing.  Gratitude for the woman with the emotional strength to forge a future free from regret and sadness.


A thousand miles and many years distant, what is not remembered, cannot be grieved. Do not weep for me dear friends as mine is a tale of second hand sorrow. An occasional dim ache for what might have been. 

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