Deep Water

I started writing this in January, 2026, when my lovely wife and I traveled to Hawaii for a little respite.  Deep grief and heart song had already begun.

Deep Water

 

I’ve traveled tough terrain before, crossed rough and stormy seas,

Been to the top of the mountain, the depths of despair,

I thought peace had come to me.

And then a tragedy unbidden, the worst or so they say,

A child lost before his prime, before he ventured out to play.

I cannot help but think of all the things he’ll miss

A glide across the skating rink, a lover’s tender kiss.

Firsts of everything, yet to touch his world

All the hopes and dreams man has had not yet unfurled.

I’ll never see him marry, or a child to his name

I’ll never feel his joy again, now only feel this pain.

Every single question, all the time, but the answers never come,

His frame of mind, was I unkind?

Like the beating of a drum.

One day those beats will soften, for now there is no end,

Their pounding rhythm driving deep, far past unfathomable bends.

That road now coursing down, deep within the well,

Opening that sacred place where tears and sunshine dwell.

Beyond the walls where pride clings

Into the halls where radiance springs

Where love soars on silver wings

That sacred place where sorrow sings.

I’ll keep walking through this fire, every single day

That’s how much he meant to me, that’s the price I have to pay.

God speed to all who walk this road, I know I am not alone

May our kindred sorrow sooth somehow, the loss we all must own.