Hoisan Family Monument LINC Island SL
This post was first published in 2013.
My father died on April 18th, when I was twelve years old. This is the first poem I have ever written about that, and it is more than a few decades later. Every April since, I have felt like I might write something…and then I never do. It was time.
What does this have to do with Second Life? On my sim, LINC Island, I have made a family memorial and this is what is engraved on my father’s side. Through the wonders of our virtual world, I can lay flowers on his grave, even though I am thousands of miles away from where he is buried, and this year I will also place this poem.
Please take the time to click on the .mp3 link entitled April 18th by Karima Hoisan.mp3.
I composed the music for this too. Maybe enjoy is not the right word, but I hope you can feel this one, and I am sure some might even relate.
What does this have to do with Second Life? On my sim, LINC Island, I have made a family memorial and this is what is engraved on my father’s side. Through the wonders of our virtual world, I can lay flowers on his grave, even though I am thousands of miles away from where he is buried, and this year I will also place this poem.
Please take the time to click on the .mp3 link entitled April 18th by Karima Hoisan.mp3.
I composed the music for this too. Maybe enjoy is not the right word, but I hope you can feel this one, and I am sure some might even relate.
April 18th by Karima Hoisan.mp3
You once whispered this to me,
“We will have eternity,
so dry your tears,
and while you’re waiting,
live your life my daughter,
then come and talk to me.”
So much time has run behind,
my questions I had saved to ask
are not the ones, I had that day, when I was twelve
and you were lowered down into the ground.
But then you came to me in dreams,
You said, “Don’t touch me, I’m not yet real.”
“I hover here because you are so young
and I am sorry I could not stay to see you grow.”
So some days, I feel the bleak is calling out,
I feel tired of it all, and I miss you as if you’d died last night,
and eternity seems a long way off, an endless wait
and in some ways, I’m still that little bud too fragile.
Life has showered me with wild flowers
and sometimes bathed my hopes in hopeless rain.
An adult, I can still see the road that brought me here,
so I write new questions, I would like to ask you on that day.
Does a girl ever grow up, if her father is not there to see?
Is she not a tree in the forest of first love’s loss, falling and no one hears her?
and history shifts to what it was not going to be
and really, as I get older, it’s getting harder for me to wait to see you.
I try not to cry, when someone stands in front of me and says your name.
I know that it’s approaching, that time, when once again I’ll be your little girl.
I want to tell you my mistakes, what made me laugh and why I was still crying.
To sit upon your lap and then, Oh Daddy!
all the time in the world is what you promised me.
Karima Hoisan
April 14th, 2013
Rest In Peace, LINC Island
Digital Rabbit Hole 
So very touching…
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Thank you Dale..I wrote this in 2013, but a part of me, will always be 12…
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Wow, Karima. I am so glad that you shared this poem with us. It is beautiful. I listened, read, and was moved, as always. Have a lovely week, my friend.🙏❤️
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Aww thank you Jeff, for always being so supportive of me:)…Hope this week is a great one for you too..🤗🙏🌹
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You’re welcome, my friend. Always. It is my pleasure. 🤗 Thank you. 😊🙏🌺
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Well, no words. This is just so beautiful, Karima.
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Thank you Angela…your words mean a lot to me today ❤️🙏🌹
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Aww.
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🤗
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So sorry for you loss! It must have been awful at such a young age to lose him. You have written a touching heartfelt poem. This was such a great line…
Does a girl ever grow up, if her father is not there to see?
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Thank you so much for your sensitive comment….Yes over the years it felt that way. Some part is still the 12 year old,not quite comprehending the full impact of death. Thank you🙏
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You are welcome!
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So touching, Karima. I can very well relate. I had also lost my father when I was twelve. You have written beautiful lines direct from the bottom of heart. God bless you, my friend!!
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Oh thank you for commenting Kashore.. Really… at twelve too!!?? Oh yes, then you really know what this poem feels like….from the inside out..Bless you too my poetic friend.
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Thank you so much. You too.
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Hugss!
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Big hugs to you Joey!!🤗🤗🤗❤️
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This was so touching, Karima. I felt it deeply. Loss can teach us so much isn’t it? I’m sure your father would have been proud of you today. Stay blessed and loved always, Karima❤️❤️🌹🎁💫
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Thank you sweet..and yes you are so right..Loss can teach us so many things…My father’s death started me on the road to poetry… Bless you habeebity always ❤️🙏🤗🌹
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Karimita Mia…..I remember this! I’m so glad I could revisit it. I like reacquainting myself with all your works. Repost any time! Thanks!
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Thank you Hoyt.for saying this…and for your sweet comment Ruco:)
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Karima, this is very moving, touching, sad, beautiful, wistful, hopeful: it has a little of everything. What a poem! And what a great loss. Sorry! And such a strong opening.
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Thank you so much Benjamin, for your words and also for taking the time to actually listen to the recording. It was written to be heard, and I have performed it live in virtual readings
Yes, you feel the depth of this incident, that truly marked me for life..and put me on the road to poetry..at 12 years old…
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Wonderful reading. Really shows off your creative assets. The mood is set well and I feel a sense of wholeness even within this tragic incompleteness of child/father relationship. So well done.
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Oh habeebity, I don’t have words to explain to you how I felt reading your beautiful poem, you know, I can so relate to this. No matter how much time will fly by but some memoirs, some people are always there in your heart never to be forgotten. Just their name you hear and your tears threaten you to flow by. ❤️🤗❤️ Stay blessed always🤗💕
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Habeebity, oh yes, I know you know, and that makes your words even more inspiring to me. Yes , it is always like it just happened…..even years later. I think the young mind is imprinted indelibly…Even decades later, just hearing his name spoken by someone, is enough, to let loose the floodgate of tears and emotions. Oh..you are so right! Thank you for this comment..It means the world to me. Did you happen to listen to the recording? I actually gave voice to my father too…Hugs you Stay blessed! Allah ma3k always
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I didn’t listen dear earlier, I just read your poem and was very moved. Heard it just now, your voice as I always say is so powerful, soulful, pristine. And the voice you gave to your father is just so creatively done. ❤️❤️❤️🤗🤗🤗
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