Grief

I wrote this back in November, 2011, when a friend's son was diagnosed with a serious, and possibly fatal, condition. I used it as opening prayer at our Grief Ministry meeting last week, and had requests to publish it here.

There are plenty of platitudes,

Plenty of things we say

But they do not assuage our hurt,

They do not hide our grief away

The pain of those we love is ours,

Their pain becomes our tears

And we forget all that we know

When we live within our fears

Our pain is great, our tears so many,

Our sorrow all we bear

We ache for ourselves and those we love,

We ache for those who care

We remain bound by earthly things

As we live our lives in exile

We ache for that we can’t perceive

As we walk our lonely mile

Yet in the end, faith does prevail

And we remember what we know:

Our bodies but an earthly jail,

And heaven be our goal