Grief
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead.
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
W.H. Auden
RECOVERY FROM GRIEF IS NOT A STATION YOU ARRIVE AT,
BUT A MANNER OF TRAVELLING
My grief is like a river--
I have to let it flow,
But I myself determine
Just where the banks will go.
Some days the current takes me
In waves of guilt and pain,
But there are always quiet pools
Where I can rest again.
I crash on rocks of anger--
My faith seems faint indeed,
But there are other swimmers
Who know that what I need
Are loving hands to hold me
When the waters are too swift,
And someone kind to listen
When I just seem to drift.
Grief’s river is a process
Of relinquishing the past.
By swimming in Hope’s channels
I’ll reach the shore at last.
A grieving parent is someone who will never forget their child no matter how painful memories are.
A grieving parent is someone who yearns to be with their dead but cannot conceive leaving their living ones.
A grieving parent is someone who has part of a heart as the rest is buried with their child.
A grieving parent is someone who begs for relief from the memories which plague them and then feels guilty when they get it.
A grieving parent is someone who pretends to be happy and enjoying life when they really are dying inside.
A grieving parent is someone who can cry or laugh at the drop of a hat whenever they remember their beloved child.
A grieving parent is some who feels as if they just lost their child yesterday no matter how much time has passed.
A grieving parent is someone who fears for their remaining family because they cannot bear to have any more losses.
A grieving parent is someone who sits by their child's gravestone and feels a knife stabbing their heart.
A grieving parent is someone who wants to help others who have lost loved ones because somehow their loss is theirs all over again.
~ Judy Skapnik ~