Death - 2 poems

Sometimes death is welcome,

Pain, intense, makes death seem wholesome. 

Then someone dies, as anticipated, 

We don't rejoice, but the relief is celebrated. 

Yet there is an underlying sorrow, 

It is the past that saddens, not morrow. 

The moments that could have been glorious,  

The bonds that could have been more joyous. 

The times when one turned the other way, 

The past that taught, that shaped, our today. 

Now no more a chance for a fresh beginning, for understanding, 

There was no desire sharp, but now there will be no reckoning. 

All paths ended, death holds its sway,
And one reflects what should now change.

- 25 March 2016
- It has been haunting me. Death.
I do not fear it.
But there is a sense of loss, nevertheless.
An uncle died on 7 March
From pain, suffering, a release gained.
Another had died weeks before
I saw my father lose his starch.
It strikes home, it does, no matter how stalwart,
The departed leave on a new quest,
Even as we begin to find new meaning
A new direction as we walk on a slightly different path.
New reflections, new insights,
Old wine, new bottle, perhaps,
But still the thought haunts,
'What if' resonates, and I wonder what I ought.
Words of comfort, I have none to give,
Death is release, I firmly believe.
But a loss is a loss, even in troubled loves,
Years of togetherness forge strong bonds.
I do not know what to say, to feel even,
Is it life I fear and death welcome?