This is an elegy that I dedicated to my mother, Christine Ena Burch, after her death from Covid pneumonia.
Elegy for a little girl, lost
by Michael R. Burch
. . . qui laetificat juventutem meam . . .
She was the joy of my youth,
and now she is gone.
. . . requiescat in pace . . .
May she rest in peace.
. . . amen . . .
Amen.
I was touched by this Latin prayer, which I discovered in a novel that I read as a teenager. Many years later, I decided to incorporate it into a poem. From what I now understand, “ad deum qui laetificat juventutem meam” means “to the God who gives joy to my youth” but I am sticking with my original interpretation: a lament for a little girl at her funeral.
Keywords/Tags: poem, poetry, elegy, eulogy, Latin prayer, joy, youth, peace, amen
Time will tell, as it always does in the end.—Michael R. Burch
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