We lost my little brother this morning

[patrice]

178. Everything is far and long gone by . . .

Everything is far
and long gone by.
I think that the star
glittering above me
has been dead for a million years.
I think there were tears
in the car I heard pass
and something terrible was said.
A clock has stopped striking in the house
across the road . . .
When did it start? . . .
I would like to step out of my heart
and go walking beneath the enormous sky.
I would like to pray.
And surely of all the stars that perished
long ago,
one still exists.
I think that I know
which one it is -
which one, at the end of its
beam in the sky,
stands like a white city . . .

Lament - by R.M. Rilke

Please accept my good wishes, Kolesar, and offer my support to your mother.