February 24, 2008

The Matriarch Passes

The Matriarch of the Avrech Clan died yesterday.
She was one hundred years, old but not over yet,
Until someone signed her death certificate.
Our ticket to the afterlife, if there is one.

My Aunt Lilian was always sweet and polite to me,
But we were never really close. Perhaps her ghost.
Every time I had dinner at her house with my cousins,
She served lamb chops. To this day I can taste them.

Those who spoke at grave site remembered her quiet strength,
And her fierce pride in, and protection of, her progeny.
These traits remind me of my own mother, and the sad reality,
That Lilian's passing marks the end of my parents' old cohort.

William's Whimsical Words:

No torch passes, but an unwelcome mantle falls upon another generation.

to Journal Main Page