One second before pain

A Poem by Nicole Schuster

for those who have been touched by death

Death is a funny thing

Hard for someone living to understand

What really happens?

Where do they go?

While we see life

The crazy world passing by

What do they see?

How do we know they are still around somewhere?

But it's almost as if they still live

We have those memories, that we cling to so desperately

And with pictures and mementos

It's hard to realize that they're gone

For those moments, you forget

And everything seems okay

You see a bright future

For you and for them, together

And them comes the remembering

It crushes you and any happy thought you have

You forget how to breathe

Even though you tell yourself to be strong for them

And it's like finding out for the first time

Again and again and again

Trying so hard to leave the pain behind

While clinging to the pieces of them

Some people say that when the heart is cracked

The cracks let the light in

Maybe it does

But sometimes we just can't understand

And that's that.

© 2016 Nicole Schuster

Author's Note

I wrote this about Cory Monteith. He touched many people, and was a huge influence on so many lives. It's been almost two years, but I still feel the pain of his death. He was a huge loss to the world and to me, and I still don't understand.

For those who felt the pain of his death, or any other

<3