Once upon a time, long ago ...

“Against the stormy gusts of winter’s day” … so young, just a little child, and yet all this to bare …

…………………………. .............................what was it that penetrated the darkness?
............................................................Light, ~~~~~  the Light that is Love!

Once upon a time, long ago, 
A man, he, my father, was told

His beloved mother

Had been buried alive.

His sister,

(A decade older than he),

Years after the War

When construction slowly

Rebuilt the city, was told

… … they …

Had found her remains 
In one of the bunkers

Where she had taken refuge

At a time of  bombardments

As Allies moved in

And with boulders strong, closed

Entrance for safety,

 … … thus …

In its stillness like a cave,

Raising upward her prayerful song ...

Did she know ...

She had taken refuge in a grave?

There, in a dark tomb, alone,
(I assume),

His mother suffocated,

And ... was gone.

My father inconsolable,

Kept it all alive within,

The pain was too great,

Thus under its burden he bends,

His grief unspoken -- he

Distraught without end!

Many years later, I, still a child,

Heard of the tragedy,

And I had my sorrow and trail

Of fears, pestering human belief,
Already aware of the mockery

Of mortal destructive deeds,

The merciless cruelties of all wars, 

Because fear is false and weak.

I know too little of her …

Only that from family

Recitals, of a warm, caring,

Generous, and kind woman …

My imagination was running wild,

Thinking of how she must have felt?

And it made me shudder.

O my trust in man, how it shattered!

I love the thought of Light,

Which for me within my heart,

Is LOVE and my God!

But how could I love

Mankind?

And then,

Ever so gently

I saw the light:

“All is given by God!”

It is He who is Love and Life!

Not misery and decline,

These are the distorted

Images of a blinded mankind,

Devouring its own

Mortality.

Then something in me said,

(A kind of revelation):

“God and His children

Are one!”

The light of this message so bright, 

That in Love and to Love

My heart replied,

And throbbing migraine headaches --

Like an unseen vault --

Full of mystery and fright,

…. Came down to a halt!

My father?

He too saw it all

In the light of a gentle

Resolve

Remembered

A mother’s great love,

And grief

Had to tumble and fall.

Love is the herald of peace --
Love and Life never stall!

--eva-maria hogrefe

(July 2012)