Song for Derek

“Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still”

(T.S. Eliot)

I told my sad story to the wind and, brutal wind,

It would not listen to a single word.

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So I sung to the cold cruel sea, 

But it shrugged off my song in the toss of a wave,

Even the dolphins refused to hear me.

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So I gave in and no longer cared,

And I tried very hard.

Slowly, with great effort,

I learnt to sit still.

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And I learnt that my insignificant song

Was part of a greater chorus:

Many creatures have reason to feel sad

And who can claim to be lonelier than the sea?

Even the sun destroys itself to give life.

The beauty that exists in yellow leaves,

That glint in the sun as they are torn from the trees,

Is all the more touching because of this.

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We should spend our lives:

Listening for our echoes

In the silence between birdsong

Looking for our image

In the spaces between stars.

Life without suffering, toil or sorrow does not exist here,

Neither shall we.

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There are other songs that we must try to hear,

Perhaps we will then be free.

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