A guest came to visit
uninvited
without so much as a knock at the door.
Grief arrived…
bathed in the empty stillness left by an aching absence,
my new companion rests comfortably among reminders of earlier times.
Allowing me freedom to go about creating a new life
but still present when time slows
and the roaring silence fails to fill the gaping void.
For now, I protect the reminders among which grief resides;
protesting the suggestion to put them in some dark place.
Finding comfort in keeping things as they were…
Inanimate things
having no power to restore
but bearing witness to what was lost;
sustaining wisps of memories
that might otherwise quickly fade.
I took too much for granted,
the daily rhythms
the rare and the mundane
the delicate dance
until it was no more.
So I do not long to bid a quick farewell to my uninvited guest,
because my grief is part of what we had together.
So stay a while…
and if you go, when you go,
I will welcome you back from time to time
to reignite the flame,
shining your special light,
illuminating again the treasured remnants
hiding in the recesses of my heart.
© Copyright 2015, M. Linsk, with love