By: Camille Baillargeon - Family Advisor
Wether you are looking for a poetic excerpt to add to your address during the commemorative ceremony, or you wish to send a comforting message to a loved one dealing with grief, the following six poems surely will put words on your emotions, console an aching heart, or shine a bright light of hope in the face of darkness. Memoria walks alongside you in those difficult times.
1 - For Grief - John O’Donohue
When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you gets fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence.
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.
Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.
There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.
Days when you have your heart back,
You are able to function well
Until in the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
You are ambushed by grief.
It becomes hard to trust yourself.
All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.
More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.
2 - Grief - Yael Perez
We carry grief around
Like sand left in our pockets
After a day at the beach -
At first, it’s everywhere,
At every turn,
spilling to the floor.
Until one day,
in the dead of winter,
you reach your hand
into the same old pocket,
and just a few grains touch your fingertips -
enough to make you smile,
longingly,
at the memories that were left behind.
3 - The Window - Rumi
Your body is away from me
but there is a window open
from my heart to yours.
From this window, like the moon
I keep sending news secretly.
4 - To Those Whom I Love, and Those Who Love Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do,
You mustn't tie yourself to me with too many tears,
But be thankful we had so many good years.
I gave you my love, and you can only guess
How much you've given me in happiness.
I thank you for the love that you have shown,
But now it is time I traveled on alone.
So grieve for me a while, if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It is only for a while that we must part,
So treasure the memories within your heart.
I won't be far away for life goes on.
And if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can't see or touch me, I will be near.
And if you listen with your heart, you'll hear,
All my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and a 'Welcome Home'.
5 - That it will never come again - Emily Dickinson
That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Believing what we don't believe
Does not exhilarate.
That if it be, it be at best
An ablative estate --
This instigates an appetite
Precisely opposite.
6 - Separation - W.S. Merwin
Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.
At Les Espaces Memoria, we are at your service to create the ritual that most celebrates your loved one’s life. Don’t hesitate to contact our caring advisors to start organizing a personalized ceremony by calling at 514-277-7778 or by clicking here.
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