My Santiago

I am now the ‘elder male’ of our families,

“Fancy that” I hear you say,

In your Sri Lankan lilt.

And I feel,

Since feeling is more than words,

That you never went away,

Though your mortal body did.

I feel,

Even know,

That I can talk to you,

Talk with you,

And that you will

hear me and talk back,

Not laughing hysterically this time,

But now, more measured,

Speaking through people, strangers,

Through the lived - life out there;

Left only for me to hear, see, understand, accept.

Seven years on,

And I am thankful for your presence - absence in my life,

For influences, freely given,

Sometimes, reluctantly taken,

But taken nonetheless.

I am – still - a teacher, just like you were,

And I know that I have left imprints,

Some indelible, on others,