Armbands. Poem by Terry Collett

You worn black armbands
when your father died;
your mother made them
out of black silk strips.

It seems so old worldy now
that simple gesture
of loss and grief.

You wore them
on coats and jumpers
when you went out
to let others know
the grief stricken state
that you were in.

You look back at that
at a different time,
another grief, another loss,
and note the absence
of the black silk armbands
hardly seen in this modern age.

No sackcloth and ashes
for that other death,
yet it was felt as much
as that in heart and mind.

Even grief it seems
has its way to come and go
with fashion, no more
black cloth or features ashen.