I wrote this in 2008 following the death at 92 of Eugene Boller, my acrobatics teacher.  In September 2014 my sister Jenny died after a long illness, so here it is again.  Ive  left it as unpunctuated as when I wrote it.

 

Death is the compassion of the universe

swallowed up by the great river

returned to the mother

Death is the compassion of the universe

 

or we would live and mourn all our lives

the great dark the great peace

Death is the compassion of the universe

You are safe now from my tears, my raptures of grief

 

I pay this to keep you safe

safe from fear and the muggers and robbers

and Lambeth council and its repossessions,

Who knows what will happen

 

but death is the compassion of the universe

You are tired you are tired but now let go

of my anguish, the lonely waiting for dawn time

the sweating wide-eyed exhaustion of the small hours

 

the doorbell at midnight, daylight,

the indifference of agency nurses.

You are safe from crushing, dropping, falling,

from ticking underground waiting for death

 

which is the compassion of the universe

shutters down on an unstable light

curtains drawn over the weakness of life

You are safe from cries that eat up the night

 

Death is the compassion of the universe