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Writer's pictureThe Red Wheelbarrow Poetry

The Numb Mourner’s Prayer

Hani du Toit


Unstitch the patchwork of

My mended heart

Loosen the threads

Knitted so tight

I cannot fall apart


Untie my heart

From all these strangled strings

Wound up in double knots

Weaving a braid of every

Unsaid thing


Unpick the strands

Let out the seams

So I may conjure

In the quiet of my dreams

Not only disappointment

And your wrath

But flashes of your smile,

Your kindest words,

Your belly laugh


Undo this rusted hook

That bolts this chamber’s door

To memories of beach days

River song and more

Allow my stiffened heart

The sweet relief

The rough raw fray

Of love and loss and grief


Let me unravel

Thread by worn out thread

So I can taste the poignant pangs -

The piercing truth -

That you are dead


Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow with the Life Riting Collective on 21 July 2022


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