GRIEF Poem: GRIEF, by Jill Euclide

June 6, 2024

Carson and Katherine
Laid to rest
June 11, 2024
Masses said in churches miles
Apart
Mourners minding
Tears with
Handmaid handkerchiefs
Receiving lines
Embraces
Resounding “I’m so sorry for your loss”s
There is nothing else to say.

Grief is heart-language
Eluding mouth-formed words

Carson’s white casket
Sweet pursed butterfly lips
Bald head just barely covered
In blonde peach fuzz.
A mother’s sobs
Personify a father’s heartbreak
As the coffin lid gently closes.
The final glimpse of a son —
Imprinted innocence.

Katherine’s maple casket
Solid, weighted
Measuring the depth
Of mother’s love.
A son’s sobs,
Echoes of his child-self
Yearning again for mother-love
A final kiss,
A hand lies on her coffin lid

And the time has passed
The brevity of life
3 months.
3 vicinnium.
Does the level of grief
Define the value of a life?

Does time exponentially multiply it?
Or does our value simply lie in our
Momentary
Miniscule
Existence