The Thing Is

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

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.

“The Thing Is” by Ellen Bass, Mules of Love.

for Michele

4 thoughts on “The Thing Is”

    1. It’s sad. But it’s also truly a coming to terms. Accepting life–even though it is sometimes ugly or plain or hurtful or lonely–and saying anyway, “yes, yes I will love you again.”

      I will love you anyway.

      It’s so incredibly brave to decide to go on living, to go on loving. I hope it helps your friend. If you click on Michele’s name, she has posted a beautiful piece.

      You may see this sometime in the future, but I loved this too:

      Like

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