And so today I have a poem for you.  It has occurred to me recently that the focus of grief has shifted, and I dwell less on the pain of loss and more on what a future for myself might look like. I think this is a positive step, remembering that no healing process is ever a straight line.  But for you, my family and friends who have been such a blessing to me, please take comfort that the healing has begun in earnest....

The Land of Loss 

I am a denizen of the land of loss

   A place I have come to know too well.

A place of sorrow, a place of pain

   A horrid place in which to dwell.

Where the fallen leaf is more highly prized

   Than those still brimming with life.

One may not travel to this dark land

   But that the transit must be paid

With broken heart and yearning soul

   And anguished mind thus made

By a departing loved one

   Snatched away by life’s indifference.

We come to know this wretched place

   and we learn to speak its tongue.

Down the ladder we descend

   To its very bottom rung.

To ascend again may ne’re come to be

   Consigned we are to its darkness.

But time does pass and truth does out

   As we grieve our love’s demise.

And we slowly learn each passing day

   That our spirits will slowly rise.

We cannot dwell in darkness till

   Our time on earth is done.

There is a piece of each of us

   That will forever bear the hurt

The stain of loss a scarlet symbol

    That we cannot then avert

But may we each learn to make

   Our own wreckage into art.

And send it back to those we love

   whose lives we may still touch

and in doing so our time down here

   we can come to value such

that we may help those new ones

    who come here after us.