A Mother’s Grief

I have seen her dry tears

And heard the silent mourning

Wordless agony in the presence

Of life’s absence

We imagine a place barren

When there is not one grass blade

Not one sapling of Hope

To cling our longing hearts

I yearn to see finches collect twigs

To meet the proud King stag

But his palace is an echo now

No mighty oak towers

Or courtyards of wildflowers

Just the smoldering reveries

Of Paradise lost

And a mother‘s grief laid bare

Clutching tightly still

To her burned out dream