How do you grieve
Someone you never knew
Except as a role
Assigned at birth
A role played half-heartedly
In name only
Or not at all
“Grandmother” and “Granddaughter”
“Mother” and “Daughter”
Never really connected to the person
Within the role
Treated as an obligation
Or a convenience
The people behind the roles were strangers
Their wants, needs and desires
unknown
unimportant
I grieve
The possibility
of that role
The lack of grief
for the person
who I never knew
Who never knew me
It's a common story
The ideal version of a family
Where everyone knows, loves and accepts each other
Seems to be false
more often than it is true
But it is a wonderful fantasy
The death of the possibility
of fantasy
becoming reality
Holds its own pain
Deserves its own time
and space
to grieve