What is the sound of a grieving heart?
Is it the shuffle of bare feet along the floorboards?
Rumpled pajama bottoms swish
Swish
Swishing
Should pull them up
Higher
Give them a lift
A
Hoist
A
Jerk
What choice is left
For the bereft
But to notice these little details
And block out the rest
Until
One at a time they knock at the door
no longer content to be ignored
The overdue bills
The outside world to deal with
The small wizened apple
All that remains alive
Just
In the fruit bowl on the bench
That held bananas now blackened
And rotten
Covered with tiny insects
Tip the lot up
Throw it into the bin
Clean the bench
Clean the bench
Find homes for each tiny little thing
The lipstick
The one earring
The pen
The paper
The cap and the belt and the
Another tap at the door…
Cannot do this
Anymore
Lift one foot after the other
And trail back
Under
The cover of
Sheets
Peer through the white
At shadowy shapes
Drift on the thought
That tomorrow
Tomorrow
Some
Progress
You
Will
Make

….

For friends who have recently lost someone
Too many have lost
I cannot believe how many have lost
And so much
This year
My heart goes out
I feel their grief
See the shadows in them
And can do nothing
Much
Certainly not enough
And it’s not a nice feeling to be helpless either
❤️