IN MY GRIEF

Grieving

 

Inspired by Beth Palmer’s essay on grief. This is an exerpt:  “….Or to grieve.  Yet that is what has monopolized my thoughts lately, ever since the death of a dear friend’s father last week.   What is the proper procedure for such situations?  My friend knows as well as I do that her father, long weakened by disease, is free and whole again. She knows he has only been separated from his body, that he, himself, absolutely still lives " perhaps more so than he has for years.   She doesn’t need me to tell her that, and instinct tell me that such words " however true, and no matter how profound the doctrines they hit at " would be comfort in the midst of a fresh, ever-present grief.”     Let me spend some time in the shadows, let me hide my face from the sun, let my tears flow down unheeded, with no comfort from anyone.   Don’t tell me I’ll see him again, please don’t talk about tomorrow, for right now my heart is breaking, and I must hold tight to this sorrow.   Perhaps on another day somewhere as I once again let in the light, I will feel his memory around me, and yet know I will soon be all right.   Oh yes, I’ve known all the answers, I have spoken of heaven’s great shore, but now as this grief surrounds me, I can't see the same as before.   So leave me alone in the shadows, as I hide my face from the sun, and my tears flow down unheeded, with no comfort from anyone.   © Forrest Phelps-Cook