Saying Goodbye
Part XIV
Spring Was Late This Year
written by: Doug Stanfield (Hemmingplay)
@hemmingplay
Spring was late this year.
February and March
lingered almost to May.
The daffodils,
a month late,
just started to bloom
in her last days, even though she
could no longer see them.
And no longer cared.
The timing was exquisite, though,
as though they were waiting,
all rising in honor
as she was walking away.
The Daffodil Lady’s last walk.
“Stand up,” they were told.
“Pay your respects.
She is passing.”
They blazed brightly through the week of
sadness and weeping and goodbyes,
then a few extra days for good measure.
They’re fading in their time.
We move on together.
As it should be.
As she would understand.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
This was the last one I was able to write for a while. I had to organize funerals in two states, and then return to an empty house and start coming to terms with what would be almost a year’s project to rebuild my life from scratch. We had been together for 50 years, and there wasn’t a single part of everything around me that did not remind me of her. But I remembered the daffodils, a flower that had a lot of meaning for both of us.
When his sons were safely off making their own mistakes, he turned on the computer one day, stared at the screen for what seemed a long time, and began to learn the craft anew at age 67.
Doug has published three books so far: "Mermaid Sisters: First Dive", a children's book on iTunes/iBook; "I Came From A Place of Fireflies" published as a paperback and Kindle on Amazon, and a new book of poetry, "Snowflakes & Ashes: Meditations on the Temporary”, available as both an ebook and as a paperback. (Gatekeeper Press) on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and a few others.)
