The Time Is Here to Grieve
/During an artist residency sponsored by the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Sisters of Loretto, and inspired by rich conversation with wise souls, I wrote the following piece.
While still at Loretto, in a sweet little house surrounded by pasture and curious cows, I recorded the poem, which you can listen to below.
The time is here to grieve.
The time is here to open up to change, to loss, to “I’ve never lived in this world before.”
What do you know? Practically nothing.
What do you want? For the pain to go away.
Then you must let it go.
Holding onto the fear, the hurt, the sorrow, stuffing them down into your body, only inflames your being.
Grasping at what cannot be contained only exacerbates exhaustion.
Clinging to the known, even as it slips away, only prolongs despair.
Allow yourself despair. Let it flow through you, washing you, dirty, clean, wearing away your edges. Softening.
You cannot know the next life while you are clutching. You cannot see it if you are only looking backward.
Look around. Who is here with you? Who holds your hand? The gentle, warm touch may change nothing except to remind you that you are not alone.
Look ahead. Do you tremble at the fog? Do you tense with every “I don’t know“? Are you willing to step forward anyway?
Look to Mother Earth. Notice that She is steady under your feet. She is all around you, cradling you. She will not fall away, even if you betray Her. She will sustain you with her tender-fierce maternal care.
If you let her.
Stomp! Wail!
Fall to your knees in the relief of surrender.
The time is now to cry. The cry is now to Time.
More time! Mourn time.
Grief flowing transforms. Grief stagnant petrifies.
What do you choose?
River or fossil?
