WHEN MY FATHER DIED By Jeremy Gadd

WHEN MY FATHER DIED 
  
When my father died, my mother,
in her grief, chose to believe he
had become a certain, blinking, star; 
a sentinel eye in the night sky. 
She would often turn off her television
and sit, contented, in her belief
he devotedly watched over her.
I once encountered her conversing,
smiling rapturously, alone.  
If her delusion brought comfort in her
bereavement, who was I to try to 
debate the secular and supernatural?
Provided a belief system is harmless
to others, does it need to be rational? 

Jeremy Gadd is an Australian poet and author who has previously contributed poems to literary magazines and periodicals in Australia, the USA, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Malaya and India. He has MA Honours and PhD degrees from the University of New England. His writing has won several literary awards. He lives and writes in an old Federation era house overlooking Botany Bay, the birthplace of modern Australia.