How do you grieve for the living?
Knowing that they live under the same sky?
See both the sun and stars shine?
Looks at the world differently than you do.
How do you grieve for those that have lost their way?
The ones that never wanted to stay?
Those that made homes out of your souls?
Those who slipped and fell?
The ones with their wings clipped?
There's an ache in your heart that makes it hollow.
Where that person used to be.
You walk the hallways of the house,
Reliving every memory.
Every hazy daydream.
Every Late-night conversation.
Every fight and fallout.
How do you continue on?
When pieces of themselves are scattered.
On the floor like a jigsaw puzzle.
Only you can't put the pieces back together again.
Each piece is a reminder of the way you laughed.
Each piece is a day you hold on to.
Each piece was a thought they had once.
Each piece is now a little bent and broken too.
How do you undo this kind of damage?
When it was never yours to fix in the first place.
How do you grieve for the living?
As their name gets stuck in your throat.
As you think you see them in strangers on street corners.
Capture a whiff of their scent.
The colour of their hair.
An outfit they would have picked.
Everybody talks about the dead with such respect.
What about those that have slipped through the cracks?
Became somebody nobody no longer wants to know.
With nobody to be there when they cried.
What happens to these lost souls?
Misfits?
Troublemakers?
Escape Artists?
Criminals?
All are just labels.
As you try to tear them off.
Showing society who they once were,
Nobody cares.
Nobody listens.
Nobody wants to know.
Nobody but you.
Can see their potential.
How do you continue living?
When you're not grieving for the dead?
But somebody else instead?
All alone.
Breathless and confused.
Looking at a photograph.
Of a person you once knew.
I have been lucky enough to not visit any funerals. But I have been unfortunate enough to grieve those that still live on. To those who are experiencing any grief by the living or the dead. You're no longer alone.
