We had our annual memorial service with Alacare of Scottsboro this week. I wrote a poem for it and read it during the service. It's not one of those rhyming poems, but it's word I felt that needed to be said for those who grieve.
I am more than my grief.
I am the song that you created with your love.
While I'm no longer the person you left behind,
I am still the person you love.
I am more than my heartache.
I am the laughter you left inside my heart.
While our memories are still painful,
They make my heart smile on my darkest days.
I am more than my mourning.
I am the life you left behind that gets to live another day.
While we won't have new memories together,
I get to share the ones we made with those who will relive them with me.
I am more than pain and suffering and tears and screams.
I am joy and happiness and peace and love.
While I miss you with every fiber of my being,
I choose to enjoy life, in honor of who you are to me.
I don't wish any part of my grief away,
Because it is the proof that I loved you greatly.
Grief is not the end of me,
And grief is not the end of you.
I am the song that you created with your love.
While I'm no longer the person you left behind,
I am still the person you love.
I am more than my heartache.
I am the laughter you left inside my heart.
While our memories are still painful,
They make my heart smile on my darkest days.
I am more than my mourning.
I am the life you left behind that gets to live another day.
While we won't have new memories together,
I get to share the ones we made with those who will relive them with me.
I am more than pain and suffering and tears and screams.
I am joy and happiness and peace and love.
While I miss you with every fiber of my being,
I choose to enjoy life, in honor of who you are to me.
I don't wish any part of my grief away,
Because it is the proof that I loved you greatly.
Grief is not the end of me,
And grief is not the end of you.