Mourning a Loss
The world is silent. It still sleeps on this Saturday morning. I go down to the kitchen for my morning cup of tea. As I prepare the tea, through the open kitchen window, I hear the lonely lament of one of the turtledoves that frequent our garden. There was no reply. ‘Coocooti, coocooti, my love, my love,’ it cried over and over again. The turtledove’s cry is so soulful, that I realize what had happened. As I stood by that window, listening, scalding tears silently run down my cheeks. I feel her loss, as I relive mine.
In Boulder, Colorado, friends and family gather around Clari’s death bed. She is my daughter Jessica’s friend. They met when their sons were in kindergarten. They became fast friends through the years. Their sons are now in their early twenties. They all sit around her bed, helplessly wanting to express their love one more time before Death snatches her away. Her husband bows his head in helpless despair. Her mother wonders why her daughter, her beloved daughter, is leaving this earth before her. Why? That is not the order of things! The searing pain in her heart threatens to burst out of her body. Why? Why? Clari’s eldest son and his wife traveled from faraway to be with her as her life painfully draws to an end. Their toddler offers a welcome diversion to them all. They momentarily smile at his cuteness. Her younger son, who was always shy and sensitive, sits in the corner, next to his father, silently trying to absorb his pain. Friends prepare meals for the grieving family. They try so hard to comfort them, but how can one comfort a family on the loss of a daughter, a wife, a mother? Tell me, how?
I open the back door to take out food for my outdoor cats. Many birds are gathered on the fence listening to the turtledove’s heart-rending cries, with a heavy heart. ‘Coocooti, coocooti. My love, where are you, my soul mate. Why have you left me?’ I sit on the garden bench with my head bent low and listen as well. We all feel the turtledove’s unbearable sorrow…