Terminus

This poem explores the themes of parting via the metaphor of a train station: the terminus, either for lives or to new hope, and I make no apology for linking the closing meditation on death to the ancient myth that a death is a new star in the sky. 

Yes, it is a myth, but what it represents is an idea of change and persistence, and that in this myth, the stars become a conduit to enable us to remember the dead. 

The function of mythology is not to be literal and appeal to the mind, but to reach the heart, in a way like music does, that cannot be properly put into words except imperfectly, and in this case, enable us to  come to terms with loss and grief. Stars are symbols of light in darkness.

Terminus

It’s the end of the line, say goodbye:
Partings are always sad, we may cry;
Sadness at the station, departing train:
Soldiers for the war, the mud, the rain;
Trenches await, but sweetheart kiss,
Sorrows of times lost, times to miss;
Another train leaves, children wave,
Parents telling them to always be brave:
They would not meet again, for death
In the gas chambers comes, breath
Cut short by poison; yet the transport,
However much it failed and fell short,
Saved children from that holocaust:
Kindertransport, those who crossed,
To safer lands, new hope, new life,
Away from the horrors of that strife;
And to stay and fight, or time to flee;
Today the choice again: the refugee,
Leaving possessions, exploding shells,
Of an invasion: cities to ruined hells;
But other partings closer, the loss
Of a loved one, taking up that cross:
Pain of parting, the infirmity of age,
Or dying remote, alone, off-stage;
Quiet lives, sometimes in despair:
A sudden loss too great to bare;
And terminus: the end of a line:
Remember in tears, that is fine;
And go out from that dark station,
Passing generation after generation;
Sunset comes, nightfall, but there
Appearing stars shine, light up the air;
And new stars are born every night:
And there is the mourned in sight,

In reminders: light in dark places,

As we remember beloved faces:
Now shining brightly so far above,
A sign of hope, and a sign of love.