What now?
All the rituals are done,
And family has gone away,
Save for the guardians,
Who stand at the gate,
And insure our safety,
So injured are we,
That discernment is gone,
Along with our concern,
For you are gone,
And not much else seems to matter.

Your room is clean,
And beloved companions,
 Are well-cared for.
Your clothes are laundered,
And not one item,
Those items that speak of you,
Is out of place.
Your essence is all around,
So strong is your presence,
That I smell you,
Feel you in the air;
My father,
The only one I’ll ever know.

How is it, Dad,
That I can comfort those who love you,
So deep are my wounds,
That I feel myself bleeding within?
How can I fill the void,
Perform the duties of eldest son,
When air,
My inspirations,
Become trapped within me,
And nights are long,
As I watch it all again,
Every moment that my eyes are closed?

I was once so confident,
About things that I did not know,
Because I knew where the answers were,
The guidance to carry me through.
How will I survive,
If not for the tools that you have given me?
How will I insure,
That I will not meet the same fate,
Without you looking over me,
My loving father,
Who always stood so close?

I cannot speak the words,
Or even find them
In another tongue,
For they have never been uttered,
So great is the lament of my heart.
Perhaps I should seek them,
Or gasp from so very deep within,
For then the Lord God will know
What He has taken from me,
As I wail to the heavens,
With the anguish of a dying breed,
And beseech Him for mercy
To quell the pain,
For the loss of one so treasured
Cannot in this life be named.

I love you, Father,
I say with honored tongue,
To have known you,
Made me your loyal son.