GRIEF CAN BE ITS OWN
UNWANTED
BUT DARKLY BEAUTIFUL CURE

…and then I felt the raw presence
of stone and I looked at the grass
laid down by the wind and I stood
beneath the passing mountain sky
seeing the clear view across the lake
below and felt as if I stood both alone
and entire and yet together
with everything looking back to find
my outlined mountain silhouette,
as if the world were held in place
as much by loss as any precious gain,
and that even after this goodbye
my memories were all still true,

and that all the horizons
of the world still held their hidden,
and unspoken promise, and above all,
that grief can be its own
unwanted
but darkly beautiful cure;

that the deepest pain
can be a long way to somewhere after all,
and of all things, even living on
beyond our loved ones,

that hardly beating, whispering
broken, but listening heart,
the one to serve us best.

Poem and photo by David Whyte