(Hip, Hip, Hurah, Peder Severin Kroyer, 1888)

Family Reunion

They, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, wives and husbands, mothers and fathers…

All that were, all that are no longer

Lives come and gone

Woe is the tale of stories so splintered and marred

How meaningful it all was

It is with no regret that they have parted

They gather with you; for you

Still

 

Moments not lost on your glories…your heartaches;

Joys abound, sorrows reverberate

Time is not detached, nor space relevant

They muse…laugh at our naiveté, our innocence–

Chiding, ‘Children among the old and young’

Their jest a mere advantage from the heavens

They mean no harm…only love

Unconditional

Purer than running water; more bountiful than the cosmos

No judgment lingers; nothing unforgiven

Only hope for your happiness

For your journeys

 

Here they say:

“Gather among you, few and plenty

Keep all that we were; make all that you should be

There is no reason, no purpose to not reach beyond

The limitations set forth that we all bemoaned; misjudged

You will learn, you will teach

You will live forever from generation upon generation

With the lessons we have handed down

Family is family is family

Soul to soul to soul

We are connected; we are one

Live, breathe, know…

Death is no ending, life is no beginning…

The cycle is never broken, only continued.”