One year anniversary

Äiti here. It's a year since we lost Punapippuri. It's been a hard year and he is missed in so many ways. I was wondering what to write for this blog post and - as always when I face a loss- this poem by Louis MacNeice came to mind. I read it before I had known loss, when I was at school, and it has comforted me ever since. It sums up how I feel - grateful for having had him in my life.


Sunlight on the Garden

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards it end;
The earth compels upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden,

Louis MacNeice, 1936