Grief - A Poem

photo by ondablv / flickr

Everyone Has Lost Someone 

They came from six,

   maybe eight directions.

The drove up and slowly

   got out of their cars.

I greeted them and they nodded--

   some smiled.

We walked through the door

  and down the steps—

  Through another door.

We sat down in a circle

   around a table.

One by one

  we shared our names.

Slowly, ever so slowly

   we began to talk.

Everyone there had lost someone.

A baby born dead.

A twenty-two year old

  who overdosed.

A mother of two—forty-four years old

   whose liver had given out.

A wife who just slipped away

   after 42 years of marriage.

An old woman with Alzheimers.

A young woman barely married

   who suicided.

Everyone there had lost someone. 

The evening ended.

We shook hands.

A few hugged.

Others just walked away to their cars.

I locked the door.

I got in my car.

Turning the key

   I remembered.

Everyone—every one—has lost

   someone—something. 

      --Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com