AVELUT

Avelut is the traditional period of mourning within Judaism.
of course, not everyone observes it and certainly not everyone observes it in the same way.
Such is life, such is Judaism.

My period is up, over.
HOW CAN THIS BE??
11 months?
it has been a haven , a safe place, a comforting place, a place to go.
grief can reside there.
let me say it again: grief can reside there.
for all who have had a loss of a loved being ( person or pet or..)
grief must exist and co-exist for us to exist and keep on living.
Life is for the living. It's a cliche, for a reason.

reason of the season to rhyme and chime for all time.
eternal.

sending forth

the earth sends forth its babies
the young , green shoots
emerge from their snug, safe
winter refuge
affirming and reaffirming
life's cycle
life
cycles on and forward
moving in and out, through and
out.
Long , long winter
of cold and grief
plummeted to depths of
icy hardness.
now, ends of lips begin to curl
upwards,
as shoots reach upward
towards the sun
towards life.
The spring equinox is here
at long last.
after 9 months i bear fruit
and witness, to my loss.
I miss you Mommy.
Nine months to the day
you died
letting go into G-D's infinite bliss
and wisdom.
at the summer solstice we buried you,
here tis-vernal equinox
and I merge forward
loss into hope
void a constant companion
Brown, brittle twigs I rip out
I rake away
to find
green (spring)
love is constant, ever present
amidst dark winter
green was there
in the center of the universe
you'll always be there.

Sugar shaker snow

sugar shaker snow
empties from the sky
as landscape
of grief
loses its color.

Day after day
I'm in the yard
seeing the branches
as they've changed
through the seasons.

Now covered in white
what once held my pain is altered

You greet me
in your absence
loud and clear
ever present.
like the translucent blue sky.