In response to Julie's request, here's my poem on the subject.
Alas
“I’ve never heard that word from anyone
but you,” my friend Jan comments with a laugh
while reading the translated epitaph
of some poor Roman, dead at twenty-one.
I know I’ve merely said it tongue-in-cheek,
implying mild regret and resignation,
not the aching cry of desolation
and suffering too unbearable to speak.
These days, we’ve lost the language of lament.
We’re taught to suck it up or take a pill
when sorrow strikes. We have more days, and still
once they are gone, we don’t know where they went,
facing the same disasters without warning
or even a vernacular of mourning.
Susan
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