"PLEASE SAY THEIR NAMES"
The
time of concern is over. No longer are we asked how we're doing.
Never are the names of our children
mentioned to us. A curtain descends. The moment has passed. Lives slip
from frequent recall.
There are exceptions: close and
compassionate friends, sensitive and loving family. Still look. Still
ask. Still listen. Thank
God for them. For most, the drama is
over. The spotlight is off. Applause is silent. But for us the play
will never end. The
effects on us are timeless. What can
be said, you ask? Please say "their names" to us.
Love does not die.
Their
names are written on our lives. The
sound of their voices replay within our minds. You may feel they are
dead. We feel they
are of the dead and still they live.
They ghost-walk our souls, beckoning in future welcome. You say, "They
were our children";
we say, " They are". Please say
"their names" to us
and say "their names" again.
It hurts to
bury their memory
in silence. What they were in flesh
is no longer with us. What they are in spirit stirs within us always.
They were of our
past but they are part of our now.
They are our hope for the future. Please understand we cannot forget. We
would not if we
could. We know that you cannot know,
yesterday we were like you. Understand that we dwell in both flesh and
spirit. We do
not ask you to walk this road. The
ascent is steep and the burden heavy. We walk it not by choice. We would
rather walk it
with them in the flesh, looking not
to spirit worlds beyond. We are what we have to be. What we have lost,
you cannot feel.
What we have gained you may not see.
Please say "their names" for they are alive.
We will meet them
again, although
in many ways we’ve never parted.
Their spirits play light songs, appear in sunrises and sunsets. They are
real and shadow,
they were and they are. Please say
"their names" to us and say "their names" again. They are our children
and we love them
as we always did. More each day.
PLEASE, SAY THEIR NAMES
