By Suzanne Weiss Morgen
Ms. Morgen is a Los Angles-area poet who began writing a collection of poems as a personal journey of grieving following the death of her parents. “The New Reality” is excerpted from that collection — The Arc of Grieving: Poems for the Journey.
The New Reality
Shocked and sad
Rocked to the depths by your death
Clinging to faith when fairness and reason feel lost
I am accosted by a new reality and forced into acceptance
Thrashing about, my mind wanders in a vast desert of burning sand
Stranded and unable to discern any direction
Then suddenly my thoughts shift
I am desperately attempting to escape a raging storm
An angry sea determined to swallow me whole
My soul cries out to you, my love
Can you hear it when I sing your praises?
I call out
But I can no longer fall into your warm embrace when despair contorts my face
Sobs rob me of even my ability to speak
My soul scarred
I regard myself as an injured survivor
You were the source of so much of my inspiration
Somehow able to make the trials and troubles of life seem bearable
Even fixable
We could work it out
No matter what it was about
I must now navigate without you to lean on
Strengthen my own backbone
Dare myself to exist in this new world
This new reality deep within me
Your life lessons are stored
You were adored
And now I will devote myself to carrying your legacy forward
Accomplishing all I can
Comforted by your abundant and sheltering love