This is on my fridge and I read it almost every day. It keeps me going many a day.
The Thing is
To love life, to love it even
When you have no stomach for it
And everything you’ve held dear
Crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
Your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
Thickening the air, heavy as water
More fit for gills than lungs;
When grief weights you like your own flesh
Only more of it, an obesity of grief,
You think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
Between your palms, a plain face,
No charming smile, no violet eyes,
And you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you again.
By Ellen Bass
Mmmm if I were to describe it I would use many of the same things I would use to describe midwinter and the aching, bone piercing, dry cold of it.
*shrugs* maybe it comes from personal experience.
But yeah grief – death – winter – no life- foreboding – dread – depressive – heavy – long – but then fading – life again – spring
stpauligurl
February 7, 2020 at 4:42 PM
This is on my fridge and I read it almost every day. It keeps me going many a day.
The Thing is
To love life, to love it even
When you have no stomach for it
And everything you’ve held dear
Crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
Your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
Thickening the air, heavy as water
More fit for gills than lungs;
When grief weights you like your own flesh
Only more of it, an obesity of grief,
You think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
Between your palms, a plain face,
No charming smile, no violet eyes,
And you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you again.
By Ellen Bass
Love, February
stpauligurl
February 7, 2020 at 4:42 PM
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💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
February 7, 2020 at 6:40 PM
In my head grief is cold, but I love the conclusion to this poem.
stpauligurl
February 7, 2020 at 9:31 PM
interesting that grief is cold to you. I hadn’t thought about that before.
💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
February 7, 2020 at 9:56 PM
Mmmm if I were to describe it I would use many of the same things I would use to describe midwinter and the aching, bone piercing, dry cold of it.
*shrugs* maybe it comes from personal experience.
But yeah grief – death – winter – no life- foreboding – dread – depressive – heavy – long – but then fading – life again – spring
another woodalchi nicole recruit
February 7, 2020 at 6:57 PM
yesss!! this is one of my all-time favorites <3 <3 <3 thank you for this <3 <3
Beverly
February 7, 2020 at 7:08 PM
Beautiful.