Have you sensed that sweet sadness?
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You will recognise the peripheral moment
— that sense of achievement and fear
as the need for your actions fade.
For me it was unexpected.
At a family member’s funeral,
I found myself unsettled
not by death, but by change in life.
Our sons stood confident, at ease,
the focus was with them,
they had its measure.
By their tenure I sensed my loss
and felt the gentle terror
of the peripheral.
It can reappear.
Years later , in old age, after weeks of lock down
some of our family visited on their way to holiday.
We met without touching,
ate a ‘socially distanced’ lunch
then they left, to continue their lives.
We enjoyed their cohesive pleasure
but we both felt the singular pressure
of our peripheral ephemerality.
