Grieving through Poetry...

Such simple words that say everything and sum up my feelings also .
I too have felt greater uncertainty ,sadness and more alone in the four weeks since that first anniversary than I have for the previous few months . I guess a reawakening to the stark reality of the situation.
Hoping love surrounds you as that anniversary approaches.
Xxx

1 Like

Dear Everyone
It’s been a while since I have posted anything on this forum, but thought I would share…
Last Friday marked the first anniversary of my dad’s death. I had been dreading the day, how I would feel, what I should do…so many feelings and emotions were swirling around my head for the weeks before. I write a lot of poetry and host events in my local community. My dad was a very dynamic and energetic person…always seeking solutions to problems, and very goal oriented. I knew that he wouldn’t have wanted me to be too focussed on my own sadness at his death. So…to mark the first anniversary, I decided to take the plunge and publish my first collection of poems, and made dedication in honour of his memory.
I wrote this poem soon after he died last year:

A broken heart can get no rest
But hammers, hollow in your chest.
Sometimes cruel, but sometimes kindly,
Fickle fate has dealt a heavy blow of late.
Our grief does seem too much to bear,
We find no comfort anywhere.
Farewell father, but not goodbye.
We’re sad and angry, hot tears we cry.
We pray for courage, our faces brave
Our love will last beyond the grave.
Rest in peace, we miss you sore
And will do, always and forever more.

Best wishes to all, and sending love, light and hope along the way

3 Likes

Hi MJ. What a beautiful way you have remembered your Dad on the anniversary…never an easy time. He would be very proud x

Dear SanW
Wonderful poem. Love it.
Thank you so much
Love Julie x

Dear Annette
Thanks so much for this reply. Everyone finds their own way to navigate don’t they. Unknown territory as time goes on when you’ve lost someone xox

1 Like

Hi - this is my first post on here - I have really benefitted from reading experiences shared by others going through the same grief as I am after the loss of the love of my life for more than 30 years. I wanted to share the poem I wrote and just about managed to read at his final farewell on July 25 - still have tears streaming down my face as I type this!

Just for You

Just hours before you left me
I watched you as you slept
Held your hand and whispered,
then out of the door I crept

I did not want to wake you,
but how I wish I had
To let you know I loved you
And not to feel so sad

I would see you tomorrow,

  • tomorrow never came
    You decided that I
    had seen enough of your pain

A blessing for you, my darling,
the salvation for your strife
An ending never chosen
for the true love of my life

We shall all shed tears
for the loss of a man so kind
But the joyous memories
will all of us remind

Of our boys as they grew
into the men we are so proud
Your legacy, my love,
will always be around

Of how we lived and laughed
with our family and friends so true
This is not the end, my dear,
one day I will be back with you

Until that time comes
look down on us and see
You will never be forgotten

  • you will always be with me.
4 Likes

That is so beautiful Rossidan. Thank you for sharing it. I am truly sorry for your loss. I hope you find this forum a help in your journey of grief. It has given me great comfort over the past year or so. Sending you love and strength xx

I am so sorry for your loss but thank you for posting your beautiful poem…your love shines through and will never leave you. Take care x

So lovely and words that come from the heart x Thank you x

WASN’T IT JUST YESTERDAY? by Peggy Amler

Wasn’t it just yesterday that we had our first date?
Wasn’t it just yesterday that we had our second date and
knew that we were meant to be together forever?
Wasn’t it just yesterday that we married, and never stopped
holding hands as we held each other’s heart?
Wasn’t it just yesterday that we looked into each other’s eyes
and spoke without words?
Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were together for five years,
then ten years, then fifteen and twenty?

And now…today…I can only remember.
For you are gone.
My heart aches, but my heart is not broken.
My heart is full with your love.

And I long for the day
when we are together again,
when I can say,
“Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were apart?”

1 Like

I have a new companion.
It is my grief.
My companion is no longer within me.
It used to define my affect and effect my every perception of the world.
My companion is now next to me, accompanying me on my journey through life.
It is with me wherever I go.
It is with me while I live my life alone.
It is with me when I do my errands, and when I return home.
It is with me when I am with family and friends.
My companion no longer cries with its gut wrenching, soulful, woeful voice.
It is quieter, still present, and now uses a softer voice.
There, like a familiar companion, with me.
Always.
It no longer haunts.
It no longer causes excruciating pain.
It no longer renders me incapable of living my life.
It is just with me.
Quietly present.
Ever present.
I am mindful of it in the mundane day-to-day living when I feel my aloneness.
I am mindful of it in the darkness and quiet of the night when I am awake and feeling my aloneness.
My companion… no longer steals my laughter, and no longer deters me from moving forward.
My companion enables me to hold onto the past while I live in the present.
My grief.
My new companion.
I have a new companion.

4 Likes

Strange Awakenings By Peggy Amler

It was early morning. My eyes were still shut.
I was waking up before my alarm went off.
I could tell it wasn’t quite daylight, but close to it.
I had some remnant thoughts, some vague remembrances of a dream that I was
unable to recall… blurred by my consciousness and lost in my awareness of
awakening.
Everything around me was the same as it always had been; I knew this even though
my eyes were still closed.
I was in my own bed; I could tell by the feel of it.
The morning light was now beginning to filter through the window blinds; I could
sense it.
My bedroom was unchanged…yet, something felt so painfully different.
A pang jolted my heart.
I was alone in my bed.
In our bed.
My husband was no longer next to me.
My dream-like state was my new reality, and my new reality felt like a dream at that
moment.
Actually, it felt more like a nightmare in the day… a daymare.
The pang that jolted my heart was a painful reminder that my husband was gone.
When will this new reality feel better?
When will this new reality no longer feel like a daymare?
It has been over two years since my husband has passed.
I open my eyes and get out of bed.
The day begins.
Life gets busy.
I guess that is good.
Yet, it is in the quiet moments that I am best able to feel my feelings.
Painful, yes, but a way to hold onto my husband.
He still touches my heart.
How beautiful.
I miss him always.
What a treasure.

2 Likes

The above 3 writings are by Peggy Ambler, taken from the AfterTalk site…

1 Like

Oh Kate. How beautiful and sad this is…this whole loss thing is. I guess some of us are are blessed to have happy memories to hold tight.
Thanks for posting this poem.
Hope you’re doing well. I read something that Paul McCartney said after Linda died…he wakes up, feels sad, acknowledges how he feels then gets on with the day. Seems like a good plan I thought. Apologies Paul if my interpretation is off-scew, but it works for me.
Keep hanging in there folks.
Annette xx

1 Like

I like that Annette, about Paul McCartney - seems like a good mantra. Sending love to you xx

1 Like

And to you back. I love these poem jewels that you post. Take care. Xx

Hi crazy cat the poems are so,sad but true . So pleased you started up the post again.
Take car all

A Grandma’s sadness

I never got to hold you
I never got to see
The little boy that you’d become
Nor hold you on my knee

I never held that precious hand
To lead you on life’s way
Nor chase you round the flower beds
And hear your laugh at play

Yet, in my heart I do all this
For you are with me still
The love you left keeps shining through
For me, it always will

Good night little one, sleep tight. XXXX

1 Like

Hi, I recently lost my wonderful husband of 37 years while on holiday in Turkey in July - he died after sustaining injuries in a paragliding accident - miss him so very much - this is the poem I had at his funeral and my wonderful friend also had it engraved on my leather journal that I write in every evening before I go to sleep - I tell him how my day has gone - the poem reads:

What was, still is and always will be
For no matter where you are
You will always be in my heart
Fly high, fly free
For we will be in love for all eternity

4 Likes

It’s a long time since this thread appeared but I revisit it often! Many of the original posters are infrequent visitors now (I so hope that that is because each one has achieved some equilibrium in their altered lives) but I am posting this as one would send a Christmas card to an old friend now seldom seen…you are not forgotten!
( I have added one sentiment to John Bell’s original )

LIght looked down and saw the darkness. "I will go there " said Light.
Peace looked down and saw war. " I will go there said Peace.
Love looked down and saw indifference and hatred. " I will go there " said Love.
Hope looked down and saw grief and pain. “I will go there” said Hope.
So He…the Lord of LIght, the Prince of Peace, the King of Love, the Giver of Hope…came down and crept in beside us.
May your Christmas be blessed x

3 Likes