ON MY FLIGHT TO NEW YORK
(REMEMBERING MY DEAR MOTHER)
by Dr. Raymond Fenech
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
As I fly on this plane and look out into the endless sky;
The clouds swish by into patterns, faces, perhaps angels
The colour of sunset red and blinding, rays gold and bright.
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
I cannot see below, nor can my feet touch the ground;
It’s like a dream and I have grown angels’ wings
As I soar above earth, I can almost see the brighter light.
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
Not even the last time I was by your hospital bedside,
When your swollen hands, scarlet-bruised lay cold and still,
Your eyes half open peering at my sad-stricken face.
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
Only in my dreams I came inside the snow-white blazing vortex,
Only once, but then I too was on a journey to unknown lands
And God would not let me join you, I still had to earn my wings.
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
Maybe one day soon, I’ll pass the gate into your realms,
Into your arms and feel once more the same comfort I felt
When I was still a child, when you protected me from every harm.
I don’t think I’ll ever be closer to you as I am now
To think for years, death has kept us wide apart,
And no matter how much time passed, the grief increased
With every rising sun, you still smiled, you couldn’t see my pain.
Only your empty bed remained which was not even home,
Your clothes, in fading colours laid clean, neatly in a pile,
Your crutches in a corner, your embroidered hanky still on your pillow;
There was no light, only quiet darkness, and the slow killing silence.
About the Author:
Raymond Fenech embarked on his writing career as a freelance journalist at 18 and worked for the leading newspapers, The Times and Sunday Times of Malta. He edited two nation-wide distributed magazines and his poems, articles, essays and short stories have been featured in several publications in 12 countries. His research on ghosts has appeared in The International Directory of the Most Haunted Places, published by Penguin Books, USA.