Grief is an Animal

I will not discuss how you went,

Not how I found you, nor the tears that I spent.

I will not talk about the sound I made,

Like a wild animal breaking free from my chest,

A Grecian lamentation so fierce

That it woke ancient demons from their rest.

Grief is an animal,

Terrible and snarling.

It bites and claws and mauls

My core.

It burrows into where my heart was before.

When I think of you, cold and still,

The Grief in my heart, oh how it moves to fill

My brain with parasites that pervade all my thoughts.

You said you would be here,

But now with Grief I am lost.

Grief is an animal baring its teeth,

And it’s the last gift you gave me,

This terrible beast beyond belief.

But if I must hold it and feed it,

Then I suppose it’s all right.

At least dear Grief sits with me at night.