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After They Are Gone

An elegy that mourns family members that have died

By Denise E LindquistPublished 7 months ago • 1 min read
After They Are Gone
Photo by Mayron Oliveira on Unsplash

Write an elegy poem that mourns a person, place, time, or idea that has been lost.

My mother, my sister and my youngest brother are all gone

Holidays they are missed the most, it feels wrong

I was the oldest of my siblings, I thought how could I go on

Then it was being the responsible one

for taking care of their stuff. It was no fun.

~

It kept me from mourning

Then I was hit without warning

That horrible ache inside of me

I didn't expect it to be

that bad

I was so sad

~

I acquired cancer and wanted my mother

to be there with me, throughout, rather

my husband was there, no sister, no brother

My sister friends came, and they helped me

through. They knew how blue

I was missing family, but really had no clue

~

My mother was my favorite funny person

My sister was my best friend, and reason

was we shared children and so even though

it was tough, I knew I needed to be strong, Oh

how strong, for her children now too, hers

are mine and mine were hers. Culture matters

and that is what that is about.

I really wanted to shout

How could you leave me

I get one of you, but all three.

~

I told my other brother

you have to take care for each other

I am the oldest and I get to go first

I want no more! This has been the worst.

~~~~

FamilyFree VerseheartbreakElegysad poetry

About the Creator

Denise E Lindquist

Retired, working part-time as a Native American culture consultant. I have an MSE, and an ABD. I write on Vocal, and Facebook. Poetry, non-fiction mostly, and working on fiction. Wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.

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    Written by Denise E Lindquist