Image | Cristina Conti
It is not time itself
Call the Midwife
That we notice passing,
But the things it erases
And reclaims.
Over the years and especially recently, I have been confronted with unexpected partings in my own life and the lives of people dear to me. The commonality in these events was generally a medical diagnosis of some kind. I wrote this poem to reflect on the feeling of unreality when we learn that our hearts have been breaking, silently, for so long a time unrecognised. The beginning of sorrow (an illness or decline) is unseen; the final days in love’s Summer pass unmarked. The first signs to our eyes are those which signal an end already nearing. Heartbreak, loss, and separation are so often this way.
Aloft
(or, The Feathered Tempest)
My heart once broke; I heard it not.
It fell in quiet pieces.
Like feathers silent meet the earth
When time the old releases.
Aloft on currents breathless flew,
Like once a winged soul soaring,
No rising storm, alas, it knew;
No thoughts of life outpouring.
At first the skies did whisper low,
The clouds their edges bending,
But darker did the heavens grow,
And fierce the howl unending.
Horizon swallowed deep in night,
A sorrowed parting covered;
And when the sun gave morning light,
No longer winged ones hovered.
Amy Dewhurst
For Further Thought
- Life changing loss is not only due to death. Loss of health, position, connection, trust, and many other things can bring feelings of grief.
- Grief can take an incredibly heavy toll on our physical bodies, too.
- Are there special times, before the difficult days came, that you can still remember?
