A Rainbow in the Storm

In the backyard of suburbia on Wau St, 
people from Wau, Sudan and nearby homelands 
joined the son grieving the loss of his beloved mother.
Neighbour’s lawnmowers and whipper snippers buzz 
as in the makeshift church, hymns are sung.
We give thanks for the mother 
who gave birth to 12 lives 
(auspicious, like the 12 Apostles)
and for her life that she gave up, 
helping another.

Here, beside the ‘Hills Hoist’, we pray.
The interpreter explains how we grieve:
Always, everything, together.
We come together in loss, and in celebration.
Always, everything, together.

He invites: 
please, don’t leave us, stay 
and share the little we have prepared.
Australians passing comments 
on how delicious the food is – donuts indulged.
Remarking in awe, how those not like them grieve 
(some record the moment on their phone in shock and wonder)

There is song, laughter, joy, and dance.
Here, on Wau St, 
hundreds hold the burden of the grieving son 
who could not be present to bury his mother.
Shedding their tears, 
and wailing in his mother’s honour, 
lightening the suffering by their presence.
A rainbow in the storm.

Taking the kitchen as their own, 
providing nourishment as a mother to her son.
Community has arrived, 
never empty handed, always full hearted.
A warm embrace.
What a gift to the bereaved, 
and a lesson in mourning for the unfamiliar.
A rainbow in the storm.