No Words Can Express: A poem of mourning

When the footsteps of a giant
Echo with their emptiness
We find ourselves
Unprepared for the permanence
Of her nonexistence
It doesn’t seem possible - and yet
All that remains is what was implanted
Within the inside spaces of those whose lives
Graciously intersected with an angel
Named Wangari Maathai
Who showed us all the power
Of the beauty of her dreams

We want to understand
Wonder why, why her, why now
But there is simply no preparing
For the way memories can unfold
No crash course in new life
Trumpeting its bloody arrival
No job shadow of ancient death
Lurking within our fear’s shadows
Yet

This gnarled harmony of luck and fate
Forever alters the way our days unfurl
And whether our nights stretch endlessly
These unforgettable moments
These abrupt adjustments
Manage to sneak up on us
Always
As if it were the first time
Ever
Even though the stakes
Are the highest
The emotion, the deepest
The exhaustion. Unrelenting
We experience it anew
Perpetually
Confronting the inevitable
Unprepared for the manner in which
It confesses our inadequacies

We are all mapless wanderers
Making peace with change