The Way After

Sometimes we find ourselves in a time and situation  where there is no "how" to be known or found.  There are no instructions for letting go--aside from those two words themselves. 

Julie Stuckey wrote the following poem  in response to a dear friend's journey throughout her first year of life without her husband. 

In this poem, we learn of the benefits  and blessings of letting go, also of the possibility  of finding a sense of peace and continued communion after loss if we can,  when we can ...

Surrender        
             to Lin
 

Joe is beyond

          being dragged along…

this heavy burden you carry

is not him.

He is weary

          of being millstone,

knows the heft of his verity

was not meant to be worn

as a sheath          obscuring

your own authenticity.

That sharp, keening pain

          is not Joe…

He is lightsome feather mantle

          of whispered grace.

He is pileated flier urging winged passage

through piercing eye communion.

He is dawn’s recollection of cradled oneness.

He is faintest breeze caressing your cheeks

…cannot permeate this ponderous cloak

out of which you have fashioned

          your shield of worldly indifference…

carries his presence

known only within the haven

of surrender. 

___________________________________________________

Poem copyright Julie Stuckey, all rights reserved.

Julie Stuckey grew up in Pennsylvania, earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Delaware, and currently lives in Pawling, New York. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in many literary journals and anthologies, including: Apropos Literary Journal, Dead Mule, A Handful of Dust, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Moonshot Magazine, Prairie Wolf Press Review, Seven Hills Review, Verdad, WestWard Quarterly, and Wilderness House Literary Review. 

You might also be interested in visiting some of our posts on friends being present in times of grief here. Or, type "friends" in the search bar above.