Poem: "The Four Specters"
Sep. 17th, 2023 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for the September ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from jerrbear_81. It also fills the "loss" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo fest.
Warning for grief/loss and associated mental states.
"The Four Specters"
Grief is a blade that cuts everything.
It stabs hearts, slices bonds,
wounds souls -- cuts everything
but the unbroken line of its existence.
What was it like, once,
to breathe without pain?
Why can't I recall
how it felt to be whole?
Loss is a thief that steals everything.
It takes time, snatches comfort,
mugs memory -- steals everything
except for the hole it pulls itself into.
Why can't I find the morning
when we first met?
Where did I leave
his company on the way?
Sorrow is a stone that blunts everything.
It dulls wit, shrouds vision,
numbs touch -- blunts everything
but the knife-edge of its own agony.
When did it get so hard
just to get out of bed?
Why does the whole world
feel like a heavy burden?
Gloom is a fog that hides everything.
It muffles sound, smothers breath,
clouds thought -- hides everything
except for the pain itself.
Why can't I remember
the color of his eyes?
Why have I forgotten
the sound of his voice?
Say nothing of the four horsemen
of the apocalypse, for they come
and go and soon they are gone.
Fear instead the four specters
who follow in their footsteps:
grief and loss, sorrow and gloom,
for they come and never go again.
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from jerrbear_81. It also fills the "loss" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo fest. Warning for grief/loss and associated mental states.
"The Four Specters"
Grief is a blade that cuts everything.
It stabs hearts, slices bonds,
wounds souls -- cuts everything
but the unbroken line of its existence.
What was it like, once,
to breathe without pain?
Why can't I recall
how it felt to be whole?
Loss is a thief that steals everything.
It takes time, snatches comfort,
mugs memory -- steals everything
except for the hole it pulls itself into.
Why can't I find the morning
when we first met?
Where did I leave
his company on the way?
Sorrow is a stone that blunts everything.
It dulls wit, shrouds vision,
numbs touch -- blunts everything
but the knife-edge of its own agony.
When did it get so hard
just to get out of bed?
Why does the whole world
feel like a heavy burden?
Gloom is a fog that hides everything.
It muffles sound, smothers breath,
clouds thought -- hides everything
except for the pain itself.
Why can't I remember
the color of his eyes?
Why have I forgotten
the sound of his voice?
Say nothing of the four horsemen
of the apocalypse, for they come
and go and soon they are gone.
Fear instead the four specters
who follow in their footsteps:
grief and loss, sorrow and gloom,
for they come and never go again.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 04:49 am (UTC)Och.. well that hits home hard.
Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-18 05:00 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-18 05:09 am (UTC)Yeahhh... I should pay more attention to trigger warnings. I'm not sure I needed that reminder on a Monday morning. My own subconscious is quite capable of ambushing me with 5am emotional roller-coaster rides without help.
It kinda caught me on a nerve there, since I'm taking Loki to vets today (hence why I'm up early).. it's just to have a bad tooth extracted, but surgery & anaesthesia carries risks.
Oh well, I'll live. I've survived every worst day so far, and I'm practically on first name basis with Death nowadays. (Oh hi Mortimer, the usual?)
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-18 05:22 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-18 05:24 am (UTC)It's ok, I'm pretty resilient. But yes, something along the lines of Grief/loss and associated mental states.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-18 05:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 04:01 pm (UTC)Thanks! This is both beautiful and all too accurate.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-18 10:27 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2023-09-18 10:42 pm (UTC)