It is possible to drown in the grief,
to let the wolves gnarl on its bones,
to lie down, to succumb,
allowing the peace of love’s chamber to engulf you.

Wretched grief
arising from love;

Love eternal, endless, all-embracing
wants no separation, no end.

Yet grief’s darkness overcomes us;
grief for those taken too soon, taken by barriers,
by force, by cruelty, by disease, by war,
by life’s natural end.

Reach now for that miserably frayed
thread of light
and grasp it.

It calls for you, it needs you.
It will restore you,
as you strengthen it.

The thread called hope.