Carrie

{for my Great Grandmother}
~
She reaches out to hold my
Hand with all her might
Memories walk right on in
Making me laugh...cry

Our silence is comfortable
Her eyes reveals the loneliness
Of her soul
I hold on so she doesn't let go

Stroking her hair
She barely knows I'm there
Calling her name I have her attention
But only for a second

I wonder if on the inside
She is lonely
If her eyes could whisper
I know they'd tell me

Alone in this shell
Scores of borrowed hell
Beaming eyes growing dim
Her tears so quiet that
Tells of life's end

Her voice silenced by time
But she has the promise
Of a great hope in her ear
So apart is just for a while

Still holding my hand
I only know that if sorrow
Exists in tomorrow
I'd rather yesterday borrow

© Alya Landry 2008

Beneath the Cherry Blossom Tree

{I wrote this poem a few days after my great grandmother passed away}
~
Sitting in the empty space she use to fill
I try to absorb her absence
To drown this loneliness I feel

Life left right before my eyes
As I held her hand and whispered
The promise to see her in paradise

I’ll see her beneath the cherry blossom tree
That will oddly bloom in the Fall
And the traces of tears will no longer linger
And pain will not be remembered at all

Happiness will abound in her soul
And she will leap as if a gazelle
And she’ll recall the stories
Of this place I used to tell

No more will there be a need for good-bye
For every day will bring an everlasting new sky
Beauty as far as time will take her
And we’ll stroll barefoot together

Reuniting after a painful time apart
I’ll make it through is the promise I gave
From my soul and heart

What a time this will be
When the hold of sleep sets her free
And there standing is where I’ll be
Waiting anxiously beneath the cherry blossom tree

For just a little while I must let go
But my precious one
It is saying good-bye
That we will be able to say hello

Momma, I’ll hold your promise that you’ll be there
And you will look for me
And if you should forget
Just look beneath the cherry blossom tree
I promise.

That is where I’ll be...

I promise...

2008

© Alya Landry 2008

The Longest Day

~
The piano plays the song of such
Lonesomeness since you’ve gone
Seems like the longest day that will never end
A day so long that keeps lingering and holding on

The sun never rises in my aching heart
Though the clouds break- it always feels dark
The rain keeps on fallin’ as my weeping tears
Tirelessly crawl and wrap themselves into a fetal ball

I can hear the wind crying as it
Rocks my sorrow’s sighing
The drummer plays for my soul
That feels like dying

The ladies grind quietly to dust
And drip with anger
As the windows to this life closes
And death is no longer a stranger

This day seems so long
Though I hold you
In my memory
You're presence is gone

O, if this pain would break
Like my heart that aches
With a slow throb that my chest cannot contain
If I bottled this hurt
I swear it would always rain

© Alya Landry 2008