Grief as Our Teacher

Grief strikes a knife directly through our heart,
So striking, so sudden, we don’t even know where to start.
The immediate shattering causes us to become untamed,
Out of control, wild, we hardly can remember our own name.

All that’s familiar seems to be so far,
As if the door leading back to reality remains ajar.
And all that we can do is quickly fall apart,
Under the weight of the heavy, forlorn heart.

Crying, screaming, convulsing in ways we’ve never known,
Moans ring in our ears, weeping forever alone.
The taste of loss so bitter on our lips,
Memories, regrets, futures that will remain unlived.

Every shard of broken heart painfully highlights old wounds,
Stories of pain that we never really knew.
We were too afraid to face their truth,
But now Grief brings them front and center to be soothed.

When we try to sew a wound closed that hasn’t really healed,
We leave an infectious, oozing part of ourselves that wants to be revealed.
After loss, what’s been hidden can’t remain in the dark,
Grief, Queen of White Light, gets us to start.

She kindly cuts us down by the roots,
Confessing a song of melting the glue.
No longer may we stay tightly wound together,
It’s time to fall apart, awaken, and surrender.

Love,
Gavrila Nikhila

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