Sink in

When the grief feels so close

pounding loud on the fortress of the heart

Like a hungry ghost on chapel doors

but the source of this grief,

this familiar visitor

feels so far away

so unreachable, untouchable…

Unfathomable.

Far across

the soft sweeping blankets of grassland,

undulating waves of Saharan sands,

towering cloud forests,

across slab and stone city scapes

and the dark blue wells

of oceanic abyss

we witness, with somber expression

through digitized windows

and chaos runs amuck in our minds

Pleading “what do I do?”

What else to do

but sink even deeper

into the dark wet earth

of where we are

if that place we are

is one we can rest within.

What else to do

but let our tears fertilize

all that reminds us

that there is life,

what some would call love,

stirring in the deep microbial cosmos

underneath all the pain

and all the suffering.

When we find ourselves

in places of peace,

that sweet, soft ephemeral gift,

may our praise be just as loud

and just as sincere

as our grief.

Let the tears fall for that, too

for that of being safe.

Because nothing is a given

in the seas of steady change.

So grieve,

don’t stop your grieving

don’t stop your caring

don’t for a second cut your chords

of empathy.

But also let your body rest

and let the world consume you

and may it remind us

that no matter where we find ourselves

in this tapestry of a thousand cloths

and a million fibers~

That we all share

this one Earth body

and every thing we do that is good

is somehow helping to bring peace

to those places we hold

in between our palms

when we pray.