There is always one missing in the sum (Siempre en la cuenta falta uno)

Here is a poem from my Dad’s book Urgent poetry (Poesía de urgencia).  He dedicated it to his friends José Luis and María Luisa in memory of their daughter María Claudia.  On my Dad’s behalf, I dedicate it to anyone who has lost a child or a Young member of their family.  

There is always one missing in the sum (Siempre en la cuenta falta uno) 

There is always one missing in the sum.

When checking on the used dolls,

when looking at the inner trees,

when around the large dining table,

when listening to a drop in the bath,

when others play with the new toy

that did not meet the absent, the for-never

guest of the mourning house,

not even when the children get together in a corner of the chamber

to ask about her

who is missing just because, because she

will not be with them anymore,

the sum will ever add up.

The accountancy of always will not interfere

nor the time that goes by so quickly

or the days that bring and take away other thoughts,

or the remaining children who grow up and run

on the lawn and amongst the roses or on the street,

because what was

is not complete, what together made a whole,

when they could say “the children” without counting them.

The father will count day after day

wishing to be wrong.