Sometimes There Are No Words

Sometimes there are no words,

there are only feelings.

Feelings we can’t quite describe

as either happy or sad,

feelings we can’t even place

where we can look at them

and see them for what they are.

For how could we even start to understand?

How could we even catch the words

to let others know

how we truly feel inside?

Within us is a storm of hail and fire,

anguish and misery,

loss and profound grief.

Grief that is so bitter

because it has once been something else —

something sweet and beautiful,

a radiance that has just fallen into shadow.

Because sometimes there are no words,

only tears…

Tears that are kind enough to reveal

the turmoil we feel within.

Tears that speak when we cannot,

tears that burn,

tears that cleanse and purge

our soul at the same time.

Tears never need an explanation.

They never need permission at all to speak.

They fall where they must fall.

They gather where our darkest emotions strangle us

and they disperse as rain falling amidst a barren land.

We try to wipe them away,

we try to ignore them.

But they come again and again,

they carry us where we dare not go.

There where our dreams mock us.

There where friends have betrayed us.

There where lovers have abandoned us.

And though sometimes there are no words,

there are lessons.

Lessons that give meaning to pain,

that give strength to weakness,

that give hope to despair.

For there, where we have been mocked,

we find a warm hand that heals.

There, where we have been betrayed,

we find a faithful soul.

And there, where we have been abandoned,

we are blessed and we are found.

The above poem is included in Jocelyn Soriano's book for those who grieve the loss of a loved one "Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief". Get it from Amazon today - click here.