The Passage of Grief (5 stages)

[Dougy]

A tribute to the Kübler-Ross model of Grief.


I await your return home, where you belong,
every waking hour, waking moment.
Mother and child, wife and daughter.

Your outline, imprinted on my sight,
the vacuum of your shape against our pale wall,
air rushing to fill your space.
That is where you will be, holding me, embraces surmount
the isolation of this island.


Reflection, who are you? My malformed friend?
All chopped up and charming.
You left them for dead.

Fist upon fist, face upon face.
Smite you and bite you, damn you to hell.
The fists are in ruin, all ribbons and gore.
The shattered reflection, the shape it stretches
to open and scream.


What do I do, to stop this madness?
On my knees I now pray,
For your return,

Sacrificial lambs, pillars of salt,
The clothes on my back, my wealth, have it all!
For thyne is the kingdom, my soul unto you,
I scrape up the chance, to have you return
from your earthly abode.


No shape, no hue, no sound,
a void for my thoughts,
that return, suspended in echoes.

Trapped in the shadows
of our house, time is unending,
sunken,
shrunken,
Boundless, unbending.


Words are spoken, hands shaken,
the world turns and I see,
vast oceans of seasons unfurling their splendour.

I step out, into your
softly spoken words of wind,
upon wings of deliverance.
Mother, child, wife, daughter.
I will remember you.

[Delta40]

That is very moving. when my father died I looked at the kubler-ross model and was disheartened to learn that it is not a single five stage process but one which may repeat itself again again while we continue to grieve. Looking back, that is what happened to me. Your denial, anger and offer to give all in return for your loved one is quite powerful

[everyadventure]

This phrase is particularly stirring:
Your outline, imprinted on my sight,
the vacuum of your shape against our pale wall,
air rushing to fill your space.

No sense in me trying to elaborate on that, as you've said it all. Thanks for sharing.