I new when I saw 

Who the call was from

She never phones , or very rarely 

Sister of 66 years

Big gaps we don’t know

But the precious times 

Punctuated by years

Are as if we were children again

Siblings drifted into our own lives

Away from the nest of nurture 

 

I new as soon as I heard her voice

The familiar comfort of childhood stories 

eagerly listened, but now ,

Solemn , breaking , breathless

I let her speak

He died this morning 

 

I’d known him for 50 years

Dry , hardworking , impenetrable sober. Solid 

 

Measured, careful. Yorkshire careful ,

At the helm , quietly getting on with it while the seas wash around him 

 

Unexpected, the finishing line suddenly appeared , invisible until it’s crossed no chance to bathe in the glory of success

The tape is broken, the magic gone 

Just two ends fluttering in the breeze to mark the race,

Gathered up by those left

Or tied again for the next.

 

Those won await the stragglers , 

Cheering on, they are at your shoulder,

in the stars, at the door , by you side

Guiding through the unknown path

The darkest hours the misty days

Towards the light that memory gives

For those that pass will always live.