91. Al-Darr – Pain and Loss

Suggests distress, harm, diversity --- ‘The pain now
is part of the happiness then. That's the deal' CS Lewis 

Today, for the Down’s boy.
knowing that, soon, you’ll both need to exit that closed door
and, outside, are hoodlums, thugs, dogs and loud bangs;
the best idea is to sit still (mum) and hope.

Andrew is humming a song from ‘Joseph’, looking around
at the TV unplugged and the Macbook (out of battery by now).
After a while, those crashes return and men bark even louder.

Andrew jumps - and shouts – you quieten him,
rising your terror from belly to throat, quivering fingers;
but he keeps rocking and singing, looking around, crooning gently

‘I closed my eyes – drew back the curtain.’ Melodic, softly,
until one big crash on the door becomes immediate ‘I closed my eyes…’
Andrew smiles, goes to the door-handle, turns it slowly.

Resurrection

Today I heard that Andrew’s condition

is worse than we knew – another Syndrome

whacked his nervous system long

ago - and bashes lifespan even more -

- so, after the deepest heart-wrench and sobbing,

after the leaning on walls – head in hands;

when that roller coaster line on a page

(which psychiatrists draw) has been scribbled,

then what?

Well, the courage of Orpheus

living his fate-line

worked out by a master who chose (long ago)

to come as a teacher of heart in each moment;

rich as a rainbow melting like snow.