I had just begun to understand
the meaning of death when my uncle died.
Before him, Death was something that
happpened to members of my family that
I had never seen nor spoken to.
Sometimes they were brought back to us
during Dinner time, Dad would down his
beer and speak of them.
Death seemed unimportant to me, for no
one ever really seemed to speak of it.
The day my uncle died, mothers face
changed, it sagged and hung like a wet
flannel stuck to the bathroom wall.
She had large sacks under her eyes,
I imagined this was where her tears were
hiding. Her face reminded me of my Lego man.
He had fallen from his turret into our coal fire
two years before, and was rescued by my dad
who had carried him like a new born bird.
When he was given back to me, his whole
face was suspended, frozen yellow droplets
ran down his once smiling face.
My brother said he was the image of the Elephant man.
That was how my mother looked.
After the funeral and after those unkwown well wishers
had drunk themselves sad. I got my Little melted Lego
Man and replaced his head with a smiling Pirates one.
I gave it to my mother, and she like the Pirate smiled.
Not Long Left
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/death-of-an-uncle-and-the-melted-lego-man/
