Mary Joan Meagher
Minnesota Branch
The present tense is tricky
When the one you love
No longer is
But has become a was.
Existence is measured in moments.
Moments are long when
Is no longer describes
The one who was immediacy,
The one who was forever.
Now a moment shocks,
Now a moment stretches,
Now a moment is eternity.
An eternity without,
An eternity bereft,
An eternity of empty.
One’s sight is blurred,
One’s hearing is gone,
One’s touch is numbed,
One’s moment is bloated
With grief.
Existence depends on the gyroscope
Of time and space
Returning to is,
Not was.
One’s moment becomes a merry-go-round of
Never.
Sad but true. Absence of a loved one never completely heals.
A beautiful and poignant description of grief.