Love within grief

This poem was written one year after listening, face-to-face, to the stories of loss by suicide of nine other brave people. They shared their sad, truthful and heartfelt stories with me as I did with them.

We thought we were going to see each other early this year but COVID had other ideas. I wanted to share this with them face to face but realised it is a story that others may need to hear now.

 

I fell into the dark

where no light ever shone

Along a dreadful path

Without my beautiful son

 

My head did not work

The pain ripped at my heart,

It cut down to my soul

We weren’t meant to be apart

 

Breathing was so hard

In such an empty place

I wanted to reach out and touch you

To hear you, to see your face

 

A year ago something changed

A shift in life for me

A year ago I ended up

Exactly where I was supposed to be

 

I sat and listened to your lives

And why you were so sad

I listened to what your story was

And what you used to have

 

My heart broke a little

For every one of you

I understood the pain inside

That’s what I feel too

 

I finally found a place

Where words were truly meant

Where we knew that our loved ones

Were truly heaven sent

 

The petals that are in a rose

Are fragile and refined

The petals that make up our rose

are strong and they are kind

 

So together we remember those

We miss and love so dear

Together we love you all

Together we hold you near

 

Never far away

Never far apart

Always in our thoughts

Always in our heart

—

Siân Houghton