Frozen Grief

In the Church, I met a woman so old Bending under the weight of years I wonder what made her steal my attention Was it her struggle to hold back her tears? In spite of her frail stooping figure She seemed to have an indomitable will Defeating all infirmities of age, she stood With a face though sad, yet tranquil and still Strange enough, she recalled to me The determined, but decrepit old man beside the pool Whom Wordsworth had once encountered Gathering leeches, though scarce, with a mind so resolute and cool I watched the woman humbly prostrate And feebly rise and straighten her aged form Surrendering herself at the feet of God Imploring grace for life’s little tasks to perform In her gnarled hands, she firmly held a prayer book With the other supporting her frail figure on a staff And with a sigh of relief, she left the church As if her afflictions were reduced to half As the Congregation dispersed in all directions She feebly walked to her accustomed haunt At the rear side of the church was a Cemetery unkempt Where the ancestors slept, devoid of all cares and want Among all the tombstones in marble and granite Erected in memory of the kindred dead There was a newly dug up grave That stood aloof as a heap of mud I watched the old woman approach this spot Where she knelt down with a calm demeanour Her withered hands clasped together in piety And her eyes closed in silent prayer With a convulsive motion of her lips She rose up and once more knelt down As if searching for a face so dear Whose memory she could never ever drown Within that mound, slept her only son Who died in his prime, a month before Leaving his widowed mother behind To brave the shafts stinging into the heart so sore As Time by seconds and minutes ticked away The bereaved mother stood up at last And heavily yet quietly walked away Leaving behind the one who was once her own part *** *** ** While the wounds of the young are quickly closed and healed And their ductile affections entwine around new passions The aged withdraw to the silence and desolation of life Once when deprived of the love that life no more sanctions