Lament for a Son

There's a hole in the world now.
In the place where he was, there's now just nothing.
A center, like no other, of memory and hope and knowledge and affection which once inhabited the earth is gone.
Only a gap remains.

A perspective on this world, unique in this world,
which once moved about within this world,has been rubbed out.
Only a void is left.

There's nobody now who saw just what he saw,
knows what he knew, remembers what he remembered, loves what he loved.
A person, an irreplaceable person is gone.

Never again will  anyone apprehend the world quite the way he did.
Never again will anyone inhabit the world the way he did.

Questions  I have can never now get answers.
The world is emptier.

My son is gone.

Only a hole remains, a void, a gap, never to be filled

(Nicholas Wolterstorff)