Requiem For My Brother

Requiem For My Brother Linval

My Brother, your anguish fills my ear
Yet though so much I care
There is nothing I can do
To cheer and comfort you
Would that I could ease your pain
Hear you laugh and see you smile again

Silently I weep within my heart
Knowing that we are soon to part
This night I know will be long
For You I must to be strong
As I watch the pain distort your face
I too ask “where is God’s saving Grace”

It’s now past the midnight hour
I must summon all my will and power
To keep me watching over you
That much without fail I shall do

O my brother, my brother
Child from the womb of my mother
I know you do not choose to leave me
You are only a victim of things that have to be
Ineffable emotions pervade my mind
For them, answers I cannot find

I know that we all must die
Still tonight I feel a need to cry
A shimmering light through the window peep
To reveal your face in restless sleep
You twist and turn from the agony you feel
Unaware that my sorrow like your pain is real

Hopelessly I watch you slipping away
Not knowing if you will last another day
You open your eyes, still nothing they seem to see
As your spirit struggles to break free

The night creatures sweetly sing to me
While the clock says its half past three
My brother whom so much I love
Will soon wing his flight to realms above

All that I own tonight would I give
To see you many more years live
Though blinded by my grief
I know from your pain, in death you will find relief

The hand of the clock slowly moves to four
I am weary to the core
Within the room I walk to and fro
To sleep, I still cannot go
Your whimpers and cries pierce my heart
But my tears I command not to start

Though not by strength or might
We have both survived the night
You continue to endure your pain
While I am faced with weariness and mental strain

I call upon your son
To aid me with what needs to be done
Blessed are you to have a wife
Always there for you in your strife
Though I am here to do for you what is best
I now must lay my head down to rest

By Ken George Dill

Written in Jamaica on 24 September 2007
My Brother Linval Died on 27th September 2007