All my life —
her life —
near or far
mostly far
wherever I was
I dwelt in her land
motherland
whatever I spoke
spoke in her tongue
mother tongue
my source and fulcrum
her life
gone now
stateless
speechless
jabbering poetastry
but what matters
is not that
what matters
is what is not
no
who is not
the meaning of life
you learn it
when it is no more
Stevan Harnad