Tears on a sunny day

Hot sun
Post noon funeral
Small crowd gathered in quietness
Fans whir in the shed while we wait
Two wooden horses - small - black
Five plastic chairs up front
Await a small coffin

We had arrived minutes earlier
To a small knot of well known faces
A few hand-shakes and then to our chairs
Now others have flowed in
The quietness deep
A tear is starting to form

And now the family has come
A small dignified knot of love
And grief, borne stilly
The heartbreak of a light white coffin
Flowers arranged with a little face
Peeking out
Asleep

They carry you - sweet prince
No breath comes out anymore
But did you ever breathe freely my child?
Your valiant fight
Enmeshed in tubes and ventilator
Is over
For now
For ever

Arrayed in tiny majesty
Sweet child of promise
We sang and wept
Words of hope mingle
With seeds of sadness
Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Hope wins out on tear-stained faces

I listened as a brother spoke
Recalling his own loss
Of a little one
How his wife and he asked why God gave
Only to take away

I listened as the old good Book
Spoke truths
And tear-smeared, faith-tested realities
Our todays will be swallowed up
By His tomorrow
By His sorrows
Are we healed

Your parents loved you child
And gave you the name
Adhar
It belongs to you
And your memory belongs to them

Then all too soon we walked round
To see you close, my child
Your tiny face
Eyes closed, silent amidst flowers
My children came and saw
I felt my son's warm hand in mine
He did not cry then
Just like your three elder sisters
In their childlike oblivion
But he cried later
Outside in hot sun
And at home this evening
When will his small reservoir of sorrow
Run dry?

Moments later
We were walking over bleached grass and dust
To the distant corner
Where a hole opened up into hard earth

So many faces
So many prayers were said - and thought
We were joined in a community of grief
And comfort
So many things we wanted to tell
But this was a time for silence
Punctuated by hymns

A final psalm
A final prayer
A goodbye - parents kissing the little face
And then the coffin put down
Into the hole

As dust was thrown in
I took a handfull
And added to the covering
Of a small body

One life on earth is over
One life in heaven carries on
Waiting for blessed reunion

As we left
Our small breathing family of four
We saw two of little buried Adhar's sisters
Playing among graves

We will continue to cry
For young Adhar
For others who have left
Before their time
Until the hope of our hearts
Becomes the tear-less reality



----------------------------------------------
in memory of
Adhar George
Born 'before time'
Died on 14.3.2010
Safe in the arms of Jesus