incredible

one of the daughter's of my friend who recently passed posted this poem today.
on top of it being an incredible poem, i found a new poet!

i wanted to offer this to all who are grieving, and all who have grieved.
guess that's all of us, huh?
this one's for us......

(you can click on her name to get to her website!)

The Thing Is

by Ellen Bass

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.