Cloie

What Is Grieving?

Is it the wave of sadness

that crashes the moment

my favorite film ends?

Is it me laughing

only to realize

how far I have come,

and how far behind

my old self has stayed?

Is it me losing interest

in my favorite song,

the melody fading

before I’m ready to let go?

Is it the silence

after I quit trying,

when my effort disappears

into its own echo?

Is it the ache

of letting their words bruise me,

while I smile instead,

just so they never taste

the hurt I already carry?

Or is grieving

something else entirely,

a shadow I can’t name,

a mirror I dare not face?

~Cloie