Grief Poem Quotes

“Still Held"
Words seem so feeble
in moments like these.
Life is so precious,
and death such a thief.
The depths of your pain
I cannot comprehend,
but I'll stand alongside you
in the darkness, my friend.
Love is a bond
that death cannot part.
Gone from your arms,
but still held in your heart.”
― John Mark Green

“However, you are now free and this is a relief from my grief, that you are free.”
― Alma Fisher, Hills And Valleys and the Spiritual Warfare in Between

“Procession by Stewart Stafford

Stop me carrying the burden alone,
For I cannot bear the crushing weight,
Put your arm around me as I reciprocate,
Together, we will walk the needed steps.

If our shoulders shudder, we will steady,
You will help me as I will help you,
Together, as one, we shall go forward,
One foot in front of the other.

When the strain grows too great,
We will lay our mighty cross down,
An altar coffin, and genuflecting,
Rejoin the mourning congregation.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Master Plan by Stewart Stafford

Do you choose to lose yourself
In grief’s planetoid hinterlands,
Discarding every gift given
By loved ones in preparation?
Wade through marsh and swamp,
The world turns for mogul and meagre.

Burdened down by survivor's guilt,
Unspoken words, unfinished deeds,
A wandering, teetering flagellant,
Haunted by what should have been.
You were and are loved, not begrudged,
Olympic torch bravery delighting others.

Familiar hands on marathon's shore,
Offer self-medicating cocktails,
To numb the Captain to his storm,
Resist to avoid addiction's reefs,
Resolve to endure whatever comes.

We are driftwood, seedpods,
Blind to windswept grand design.
And the most important decision,
Who to pass trust's baton to?
We must not believe our eyes,
As all we see is weaponised.

Human instinct,
A mighty shield unseen,
Guiding us through,
Where we dare not lean.
The path of fearlessness,
A paradox in itself;
A source of fear,
Inside a shipyard of hope.

In dreamlike audacity,
grasp destiny with barriers lifted,
clothed in courage’s cloak.
Grieve,
Emerge transformed,
Octopus ink to glowing algae,
Knowing others will come,
To complete our healing.

Our plotted course continues,
Until privy to the master plan,
At last, upon the inverse shore,
As loved ones congratulate.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“A Mother Steeled by Stewart Stafford

A haunted mother in despair's glade,
That echoed with her feral screams,
Sifting through tiny bones for reasons,
Catharsis an absent but invited guest.

Healed knees, once bloody, kneel,
Cobwebs wiped, storm damage fixed,
Bittersweet, her baby has taken wing,
His bruises, all of him, now flown above.

Daybreak's star field on the final vigil,
Dropping the self-flagellation whip,
Fragment memories of her infant taken,
Striding forth, her scars a living map.

© 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford