Grief

There’s always a phone call you don’t want to get.

There’s always an email you don’t want to read.

And yet, we get these letters and phone calls.

Our world drops out from under us.

And tears fall…

And they fall even more…

We remember the good times with happiness…the laughter, the joy, the love.

We cringe at the bad memories…the anger, the hurt, the disappointment.

            And tears fall again…

And the tears fall after we think we no longer have tears.

Everyone tells you that it will be okay…

            That it works out in the end.

But what do they really know?

Do they know the pain that makes it hurt to breathe?

Do they know the anger that comes from thinking you could have done something?

Yet it makes you remember that you are alive…

And that you have others in your life…

                        That need to be hugged, and held, and loved.

Just like you need to be hugged, and held, and loved…

            And then you feel imaginary arms around you…

                        And you feel them there with you…

And you know everything is going to be okay.

In memory of James "Papa Bear" Chapman

1951-2012