I remember reading a poem when I was still at school. Years later, many people would frown at the reference to war and what the main character in this story was called. Politically incorrect perhaps, but written with a single intent — to describe emotion, change, and the way things evolve.

The scene is set where a warrior was killed in battle. His blood is still warm, and the feathers in his traditional battle gear are still moving in the wind. His blood is seeping into the land beneath him, and the weight of his body is pressing down on the grass he fell on. We know that those who knew him will soon realise he is no longer alive. Those people will go through stages of grief, fear, sadness, and anger.

The space he occupied is suddenly empty, and the role he fulfilled left void.

In the poem we are transported to months later.

The body of the fallen warrior has been moved. Buried with ceremony amongst his friends and family. The soil that was bloodstained and wet has dried. The dent where he fell has filled. The plants that showed disruption have stood up again, and a passer-by will never know what happened here a few months earlier. Where his body lay, grass grows again.

Things change.

Whether seasons, relationships, lives, careers, or habits — they change, and we, as the ones who are part of those changes, feel the impact and the effect the hardest.

Things change. CM van den Heever knew this, and years later it still does what a good poem should. It reminds me that we are all parts of a larger picture — significant and precious, part of an ever-changing world.

Enjoy your Journey!

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M's book 'Take Back Time' is available for sale on Amazon as both Paper back and Kindle. Remember to leave a review!