"There Is No Word"
by Ken Falk, TCF Northwestern CT

They call a man a widower - when he has lost his wife.
The woman is a widow - when her man does lose his life.
And orphan is the word - perhaps for most of us one day.
For it is normal - losing - Mom & Dad along the way.
But you can look both high and low -
and then look far and wide.
And never find a word for one - who’s had a child who died.

So is it then - so rare a find for lexicographya?⁽¹⁾
And, like some unfound jungle plant, - there’s yet no name for me?
Or could it be a word - that’s just to difficult to choose.
And, God forbid, a nightmare curse, - too horrible to use?
So, at a loss to tell our loss, - we call ourselves bereaved.
For there’s no word to tell of pain - that cannot be believed.

⁽¹⁾ the act of … compiling a dictionary