Loss

"Bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love."
- C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Someone I'm close to lost someone unexpectedly today. Today also marks the four year anniversary of my friend D.J.'s death. These words are my attempt to start processing it all...


Hope
Is more like cracks in the pavement
Than bursting sunlight.
When the big picture is so bright,
It's hard to count the losses.
Hope
Is the people who hold you
And don't try to make sense of it.
Just let the pain pronounce,
Let it take root.
Hope
Is the opposite of reason
When reason says doubt.
Give me faith for the step,
Not the staircase.
Hope
Is the never-ending cycle of words
That soothe with encouragement.
Build connections with prose
And start to find healing.
Hope
Is my God,
Who never forsakes me.
My soul finds rest in God alone,
He is my fortress.
Hope
Is remembering that I'm a little girl,
Small enough to curl up in my Mother's lap.
Possessing the emotional freedom
To cry whenever needed.
Hope
Can be a dark cloud,
When it promises to hover.
Embrace it,
Don't push against it.
Hope
Springs eternal,
Or at least bubbles to the surface.
Grief is like a mystical rain
When it mixes the memories with the tears.
Hope
Feels less like fear,
And more like love.
Intimacy triumphs
Over all the distractions and obstacles.
Hope
Believes anything is possible
(But allows doubt)
Hope
Rises above
(But allows wallowing)
Hope...
Endures.