About the Poem

Sooner or later, every living person is forced to face the loss of a loved one, in one way or another. This poem is from my own life, but I have left it open, so that it could speak for many different people, facing many different kinds of losses.

What Can Be Said About Loss

by Rosemary J. Gwaltney

What can be said about loss
In love -
Those gaping wounds bleeding from aching spirits.
Rich libraries of memories calling from those
Cob- webbed shelves of the mind, of empty
Arms, and absent laughter, loving ways,
Sparkling eyes no longer there. Of
Breakfast tables, lonely beds
And favorite things
Gathering
Dust.

What can be said about love
When loss
Rips the tapestry of a spirit apart, leaving threadbare
A soul unraveling. When child, friend, parent, or
Lover carries away with them irretrievably,
A central, vital piece of living. When
Nothing is ever the same again.
When healing takes so very
Long, leaving such
Hideous
Scars.

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10 Visitor Comments

Helen

How true!

Melony

Beautiful!

smith

this is a very good poem. 1

Jennifer

This poem touched me as none so far have done. I am struggling with the death of my dear Daddy 7 months ago and this comes so close to the gut-wrenching panic I feel when I realize I will not see him again in this life.

Addy

Yes, this really caught up with my heart my closest Uncal passed away last thursday and i was looking for stuff like this! thanx;0 addy

Gwen

Wow! Your poem captures feelings in an amazingly beautiful way.

JOE

OUCH! HOMERUN! THE AUTHOR MAKES YOU GET IT.THANKYOU.

Cinnaman

This was a great poem, it really made me have a different outlook on my father's and quite a few of friend's deaths. They were each hard for me to cope with, but now I see death in a new way. Thanks...

Ashley

This is a really good poem it really express how I feel about death, and I think everyone else does. You have talent, keep it up :)

Brandy

Ithought the poems was very nice, I know how it feels to have lost, my son died june 13 1999, he was only 8.I miss him with all my heart and more.. Brandy

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