Poem for today by Dorothy Duffy

Arts Richmond

Online - 07 May 2020

MY SISTER IS NOT A STATISTIC

Tomorrow, when the latest Deathometer of Covid is announced

in sonorous tones,

Whilst all the bodies still mount and curl towards the middle of the curve

Heaped one atop and alongside the other

My sister will be among those numbers, among the throwaway lines

Among the platitudes and lowered eyes,

an older person with underlying health conditions,

A pitiful way to lay rest the bare bones of a life.

MY SISTER IS NOT A STATISTIC

Her underlying conditions were

Love

Kindness

Belief in the essential goodness of mankind

Uproarious laughter

Forgiveness

Compassion

A storyteller

A survivor

A comforter

A force of nature

And so much more

MY SISTER IS NOT A STATISTIC

She died without the soft touch of a loved one’s hand

Without the feathered kiss upon her forehead

Without the muted murmur of familiar family voices gathered around her bed,

Without the gentle roar of laughter that comes with memories recalled

Evoked from a time that already seems distant, when we were connected by the simplicity of touch, of voice, of presence.

MY SISTER IS NOT A STATISTIC

She was a woman who spanned the seven ages.

A mother

A grandmother

A great grandmother

A sister

A friend

An aunt

A carer

A giver

MY SISTER IS NOT A STATISTIC

And so, she joins the mounting thousands

THEY ARE NOT STATISTICS ON THE DEATHOMETER OF COVID

They are the wives, mothers, children, fathers, sisters, brothers,

The layers of all our loved ones         

If she could, believe me when I say, she would hold every last one of your lost loves, croon to and comfort them and say – you were loved.

Whilst we who have been left behind mourn deep, keening the loss, the injustice, the rage.

One day we will smile and laugh again, we will remember with joy that, once, we shared a life, we knew joy and survived sadness.

You are my sister........  and I love you.

Dorothy Duffy

4TH APRIL 2020

This poem -a tribute and a lament  for my sister was written in the hours after her death amidst the swirl of news briefings announcing the daily C19 death toll.