Once Broken, Healed

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
                                                  Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)

Once Broken, Healed

What is loss, but an empty space?

And what is an empty space,
but that which waits to be filled?

The last generation that was,
at the time of your passing,
was not the last generation.

That which follows holds a place
of its own that encompasses
that which once was, always will be,
you, knowing all that you were
and all that you held.

 

This poem is another response to dVerse Poetics – One True Sentence, the prompt from Lisa at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to use one of the sentences provided, quotes from the works of Ernest Hemingway to write a poem.
When my father died in 1993 he had eight grandchildren, aged from one to twenty-two. There are now fourteen great-grandchildren (including two adoptions). All of them know, or will know, him.

Shared with Open Link Night #295 – Midsummer Live at dVerse Poets Pub.

41 thoughts on “Once Broken, Healed”

  1. Now you’ve got my eyes misty. Your “Papa” would be beaming should he read your poem. Written with such gentle caring and with great depth. Wonderful and appreciated that you shared it, Ken.

    P.S. your poem passed the deadline for Mr. Linky. Do you mind if I share the link for it in the comments section at dVerse? I don’t want anyone to miss it.

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  6. Beautiful poem–the generations that go on.
    “that encompasses
    that which once was, always will be,
    you, knowing all that you were
    and all that you held.”
    So poignant, Ken. I enjoyed hearing you read this (in your car).

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  18. Ken, this is comforting … I let my reading this extend to my son’s essence floating about freely … his perspective now way broader than mine … sensing his nods of affirmation … his life and his death forces that shaped and continue to shape multiple other lives (each shaping multiple others). We are all part of something so big we cannot comprehend it (at least not in this living stage, perhaps clearer after?)

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