RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU

RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU

The space cleared/is bigger than they were/...as the maker of the snow angel/ once they get up from the ground.---From “Personal Space” by Hannah Stephenson, The Storialist, 06-14-11 *

I thought it was the other way around:

When one is no longer there, he will be

bigger than the space he occupied.  I

cannot begin to gather the memories

grown rampant of those I have loved

and lost, they will fill my days to the brim. 

How can I run with my father through

those fields with a wayward kite? How

can  I sing those goodbye songs in my

abuela’s tremulous voice? Will I keep

in tempo with grandfather’s steps when

I find myself walking up the winding

stairwells, my little palms in his hands? 

Will I tell those tales of enchanted

elves and flirting fairies as animatedly

as grandmother Teodora , and hold

my own grandchildren in thrall? How

large a space must I have to grow with

them  while I keep this quiet watch over

the rhythm of days as we bravely wait? 

I will not be able to fill these spaces you

have carved yourselves when you were

here---they overwhelm me with grandeur.

How will I cope with the largeness of your

presence now that you have gone from us?

Like the lad who threw himself on the snow

to create his winged likeness, I find my

snow angel  larger than I am achingly small

engulfed by lingering memories of your

abiding love and immeasurable greatness.

---Albert B. Casuga

06-17-11

* http://thestorialist.blogspot.com/2011/06/personal-space.html