Death is never a clean break — some stardust always remains.
grief
Abrupt
When you’re used to seeing someone day after day, for years on end, and then suddenly they’re gone, you
It’s personal
there is no timetable for grieving —
grief is a snail
it’s a shooting star
a walk around the lake
it’s eternity
or frost till bloom —
memories coursing through the heart
it lasts as many heartbeats as it takes —
sometimes all of them.
Why we can’t let go
Regret is the glue that makes grief stick around for a lifetime.
Connections
Those we love and lose are always connected by heartstrings into infinity.
Fragile
Grief is looking up
and seeing Never
at your window —
rapping on the pane
of your heart —
Depths
Grief is a haunted lake that’s all too easy to drown in.
Memories shiver
Why does cold weather refresh old griefs?
More quiet for reflection?
Longer nights to lie awake?
Like citrus, grief is a winter fruit.
Sudden silence
The death of a loved one is a sudden silence — one of those deafening silences that leaves ringing in
Grief mends
Grief is a burden
but also a friend—
It is not grief that
wounds your heart
but it is grief that
heals your heart.
May you
May you lose a lot that matters to you
a few times in your life—
May you make and remake and
remake yourself over and again
and burn yourself right down
to ashen smoking embers
of bone and grit and soul—
So that you may always know
the pain of rock bottom
the freedom of rebirth
the hope of revival
the gift of perspective
the awareness of your strength—
May you lose but live again.
Memorial
Grieving makes us stronger
it gives us a spirit of grace
and the grace of spirit —
Our hearts feel weaker
but living past loss is
the ultimate courage —
We honor our loved ones
by living on despite,
and all the more because.
Inscribed
graves are not limited
to the cemetery —
they lurk in our minds,
and buried in our hearts
lie garlanded stones
marking loved ones lost