Recovery Through Poetry

When one is faced with loss, any loss, emotions overflow. Everyone experiences grief in their own way. There should be no judging, for it is as personal as the individual we are.

I find writing an outlet. Journaling my emotions gives me a safe place to put them, confining the words to a page, thus seeming less daunting. Words to revisit, sit with, cry with, in my own space. With time, the emotion in the words remains but softens. With time, if we allow it, we soften.

After losing Moma, I filled my void by sharing her story. After losing John, I found the need to write poetry. When emotions began to overflow, I would let them flow through my pen, which allowed me to grieve while finding a safe place to put my feelings. Afterwards, giving me time to breathe and heal.

I would like to share some poems with you. I hope one touches a chord and gives you a moment needed, whatever that moment is.

———

What do you do when your star disappears?

Do you trust it’s in the dark, anyway?

Do you trust in your mind what you can’t see or find

But know that it’s there night and day?

What do you do when your heart breaks apart?

Do you trust it will beat yet again?

Do you breathe in and out, push aside all the doubt,

Holding on to where you have been?

What do you do when you fall to the ground?

Do you stay or pick up and move?

There are steps yet to take, and with him, you’ll make

The choices that will give you the proof ~ he is here.

—Retm