Grief, the dark brooding monochromatic fiend
Pops up in your days, uninvited
and slather your soul with the black slime.
layers of dark gloom smeared over you.

We were in mid embrace, words unfinished,
you vanished in a snap to the ether yonder
My arms stays frozen wrapping the air
Where you stood a moment ago.

Buffeted by grief, it dawns on you,
There are as many shades of grief as the griever.
You endure your grief as no one ever will.
It's as unique as your DNA or personal scent.

How can one fathom the disquiet of others,
Who mourn absence of a beloved
And the sustained loss that leaves them vulnerable.
After all is said and done, you grieve for yourself.

More people grieve over the death of their pet
Than the multitude that perished in an earthquake,
Ironically, many will mourn and throw their lives away,
at the demise of a hero who never even knew them.

Grief can paint your heart in such intense hues
that the eraser of reason can barely rub it off.
Love and grief has no reason or season
but for the lover and lamenter.

Grief’s bitter taste, time alone will taper.
Religious and social rituals are constructs
to tone down the harshest hues of grief,
to ever lighter shades of pine.

Share your grief with friends, if you must,
They can feather your nest and cushion
The sharp edges to the soft belly,
But, your cup of grief, you alone must drink.

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