Grief Tide

(Two written in 1997, the first in May, when I found out my mother was going to die, the other in September, two days after I said goodbye to her body. They do belong together, and together I call them Grief Tide, yet they do bear separate titles.)

The Speed of the Dark

Measure the speed of the dark

Gauge the time taken to shatter

a hopeful smile

Across the frost of a frigid heart.

Toss torments like lost leaves

Beneath the weeping forests

Echoing without sound

A walk into nothing.

Tearless grief is the dwelling

Amongst the cold stones

of the soul;

Deep into the thankless night.

Measure the speed;

The light is our familiar,

While the precincts of the dark

Are ourselves, by mirror warped.

                                                                       Heartsong

                                                            One, long, deep endless

                                                                    wolfhowl cry from the spine

                                                                     to the heart --

                                                            Song of our grief,

                                                           When our beloved has gone.

                                                           We may let our sorrow be quiet,

                                                           Soundless rippling through the waters

                                                                   of the soul,

                                                           Tears lapping at the edges of dreams.

                                                           Or we may let our love fly,

                                                           A strong song to our ears and the sky,

                                                                   Our rage howls: why must the special die?

                                                          Yet, cherish and remember those times

                                                                   gone by

                                                          When we ran together.

                                                          When we knew both joy and sadness, together.

                                                           Then, while love cleans away the pain

                                                           We let them go,

                                                           Continuing their path to the stars.