Member Poem: Forever Love

The routine of our days has changed,

And we’re not sure how to stand

in a life built without you.

Who is left to laugh with us, and at us

Who will sit quietly with us when the salt of our tears hits the floor

Or when the world is demanding?

They offer advice for this,

well-worn maps of "time" and "healing,”

as if grief were a sickness that eventually gets better.

But they don’t understand the layout.

Our grief is not a sickness. It is love.

It is the place where we kept our secrets,

the quality of every hour we shared,

the heavy, glittery weight of knowing you.

This grief is our collective private inheritance.

It belongs to each of us, in our own way.

We will carry it forever.

Perhaps, in the coming years,

the sharp edges will soften

The gaps between the waves

will stretch a little longer.

But the tide will always return,

because the love will always remain.

We will grieve you as long as we have loved you.

And our grief?

It is simply love with no place left to go.