Us and Them - Sualeh Keen

How many amongst us blest them, god knows

That they left behind young helpless widows?

To us their integrity vanity, perception profanity

Ever a competition to what we would never be

But they were like us, part of a wider reality

And we miss their familiar presence on windows

 

“Tonight,” we say, “let there be no heavy heart!

Let the music begin, the merry dance start!

Let there be moonlight to brighten every part!”

But I think we will miss their shadows…

© 1994, Sualeh Keen. 
From the poetry collection Sickman with a Mirror, published in January 1996 by Navdin Prakashan Kendra.