Paper Lanterns

Oh little lantern,

So delicate,

So pale.

Frail; nothing more than thinly bound paper

Stretched over fragile quills

And filled with emptiness;

Effortless the wind that blows you

And shows you the way

To the ends of the sky

And the place of our birth

At the ends of the earth where the tears of the world

Build the clouds that will swell

When we cry.

A tenuous traveller

Cast to the heavens with a message,

A vestige of hope, carry love

On the breath of the last

To the ones that have passed and have left us behind,

Little lantern you remind us that we are still here,

Seeing clear in the midnight May sky

Looking up to the place where the face

Of our loved ones smile down.

What a beautiful sight.

Paper lantern, please take up our prayers,

For nobody cares more than we do

This night.

You fill up your sails

With the heat of our hearts

And it starts to release you from bonds

That you bore since the day you were picked

From the floor.

Oh frail lantern, as you swell with a fire

To fulfil your one purpose entire.

Please build up your strength for you carry

And marry a piece of our hearts and our souls,

As your goal is no more than to passage,

To shoulder our message to loved ones that stand

With the ageless divine, beyond the very fragments

Of time.

Little lantern you will soon soar on high,

To a place in the sky where we cannot follow,

Our sorrow is deep but we will not keep it

For you will soon take away sadness,

With gladness and help us adjust to the loss.

Delicate paper, enrapture our feelings;

The ceilings of heaven cannot keep you,

For your destination is far from the reaches of all

But you cannot here stall as you cradle despair,

To disperse in the air as you travel,

Unravel these feelings of anguish

Please vanquish these thoughts and scatter their scars

Far and beyond the most distant of stars.

Paper lantern we thank you for staying,

We’re praying that one day we’ll travel with you

To that very same place,

Where we’ll once again look on the face

Of our dear loved ones lost,

For they wait in an Eden, far from our side

But not from our hearts, deep inside

Where they stay here, forever.

Endeavour, little lantern, to carry our love

High above all the clouds that are filled with our tears.

Vanquish fears we’ll forget you,

We regret that you left but are thankful

We had you at all.

Though your life was a flash,

It was stunningly bright,

For you far outshone all other stars in the night.

And as we send up the lantern

To say our goodbye,

Your star shines forever in an endless night sky.

Copyright © 2011 by Simon Austin 

Forever dedicated to my uncle, Ronald Austin and family xxx