tidings of grief
may grief invite you
to speak your first language
let tears roll silently
or come crashing down your cheeks
gathering in cupped hands
heart longing for what feels lost
hold not this pool in your palms
strive not to contain the pain
let it flow like quiet stream
river reshaping rock
ocean so wide you cannot see
the other side
let all those memories and dreams
of what could have been
pour forth, wash over this raw being
let it be vast and deep
all consuming
be lost in misery’s abyss
as the tide sweeps you out to sea
and waves crash over
again and again and again
let the chaos undo you
salty tears churning in salt water
until one day, or some days
or a few moments of eternity
you’re tossed up on some new shore
and the tide begins to recede
revealing new landscapes
born of destruction and reorganization
of being swallowed by
and tending to the sorrow
as unfamiliar reality takes shape
slowly warms to sun diamonds cast on it
deny not the tears on which it’s built
these shifting sands of groundless state