We Light Candles

  

 

We light candles for our dead.

We light them for the grief that holds the living.

We light them to bring hope

in a dark, uncertain time.

 

Mark Liebenow

Grief is a Ritual

Riffs on a hidden subject

In the Cathedral of the Constellations, candles burn on the altars. The ritualized patterns of hands moving in the air. Kneelers worn by decades of devotion. The stone labyrinth on the floor. Prayers echo in the wooden rafters, there among the primary elements of the universe—faith hope, doubt, community, kindness, despair, and love.

Those who grieve don’t need words of sympathy. They need our hugs and presence.

Sacred Space

Grief takes us into sacred space

where we perceive

what was unseen.

Mark Liebenow

The Desert

The journey through grief begins

in the desert

where nothing seems familiar

and nothing seems certain.

Mark Liebenow

Alkali of Grief

The alkali of grief

removes our protective hulls,

leaving us vulnerable

and open.

Mark Liebenow

Dry Canyons

Words were all I had

for grief,

scraped from the dry canyons

abandoned in my heart.

Mark Liebenow

Journey

It’s easier to deal with grief

if I see it as a journey

and not as a river

that one crosses.

Mark Liebenow

The Difference

Because of grief,

we know the difference

between empathy

and compassion.

Mark Liebenow