11 Heart-Softening Pieces of Poetry About Grief
Grief is an inevitable part of our existence. And whilst it may be something that many people fear, there is a softness to be found in the tenderness of loss.
Most people think that grief is pain. The truth is, grief is simply unexpressed love.
It’s all the tiny moments of love and joy, bottled up in our hearts, shaken until we fizz and the tears flow from our eyes.
We think that, during times of grief, love is lost.
The truth is, it is revived, it is reformed, and resurrected.
It is our path to transform the pain of longing into the pleasure of reliving, remembering all the moments of love.
So, let your tender heart crack wide open and allow yourself to grieve every last drop until salty tears fall from your eyes.
Let go of the weight, and allow love to be revived.
Poetry about grief
1. Adrift - Mark Nepo
Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
This is how the heart makes a duet of
wonder and grief. The light spraying
through the lace of the fern is as delicate
as the fibers of memory forming their web
around the knot in my throat. The breeze
makes the birds move from branch to branch
as this ache makes me look for those I’ve lost
in the next room, in the next song, in the laugh
of the next stranger. In the very center, under
it all, what we have that no one can take
away and all that we’ve lost face each other.
It is there that I’m adrift, feeling punctured
by a holiness that exists inside everything.
I am so sad and everything is beautiful.
poem by – Mark Nepo
2. The Thing Is - Ellen Bass
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
poem by – Ellen Bass
3. The Uses of Sorrow - mary oliver
Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.
poem by – Mary Oliver
4. Holy One - Jadine Lydia
grief,
stream through me –
let the abundance of loss
crack me open to the edge
of my pale pink core,
so that i may balance on the precipice
and dance with the oracle
knowing that all life is precious
and you were preciously mine
just for a time –
thank you.
extract from – Simple Truths
5. I Carry Your Heart With Me - e.e. Cummings
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true) and
it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
poem by – E.E. Cummings
6. It is a Curious Thing - Lemony Snicket
It is a curious thing,
the death of a loved one.
We all know that our time in
this world is limited,
and that eventually all of us will
end up underneath
some sheet, never to wake up.
And yet it is always a
surprise when it happens to
someone we know.
It is like walking up the stairs
to your bedroom
in the dark, and thinking there
is one more stair
than there is. Your foot falls down,
through the air,
and there is a sickly moment of
dark surprise as you try
and readjust the way you thought
of things.
extract from – Horseradish
7. Gnawing - Jadine Lydia
my jaw aches
my teeth crumble
and my gums bleed
i try to hold together
my strong face
amongst hollow cheekbones,
as grief sweeps through me;
wiping the joy from the back of my throat
with the flick of its gnarly tongue.
extract from – Simple Truths
8. The Window - RUMI
Your body is away from me
but there is a window open
from my heart to yours.
From this window, like the moon
I keep sending news secretly.
poem by – Rumi
9. Waves - Jadine Lydia
When life brings you sadness,
let your precious tears cascade,
give your salt to the earth
and your grief to the waves.
original poem – Instagram @jadinelydia
10. Angels - mary oliver
You might see an angel anytime
and anywhere. Of course you have
to open your eyes to a kind of
second level, but it’s not really
hard. The whole business of
what’s reality and what isn’t has
never been solved and probably
never will be. So I don’t care to
be too definite about anything.
I have a lot of edges called Perhaps
and almost nothing you can call
Certainty. For myself, but not
for other people. That’s a place
you just can’t get into, not
entirely anyway, other people’s
heads.
I’ll just leave you with this.
I don’t care how many angels can
dance on the head of a pin. It’s
enough to know that for some people
they exist, and that they dance.
extract from – Blue Horses
11. Funeral - Rupi Kaur
when i go from this place
dress the porch with garlands
as you would for a wedding my dear
pull the people from their homes
and dance in the streets
when death arrives
like a bride at the aisle
send me off in my brightest clothing
serve ice cream with rose petals to our guests
there’s no reason to cry my dear
i have waited my whole life
for such a beauty to take
my breath away
when i go
let it be a celebration
for i have been here
i have lived
i have won at this game called life
poem by – Rupi Kaur
Deep, meaningful poetry about the extremes of our existence
If the above collection of poetry about grief moved you, you may enjoy reading my provocative, deep and meaningful poetry book, ‘Simple Truths,’ a poetry collection for the paradox within us all.
This collection explores the depths of our existence, including themes such as death, loss, heartbreak, addiction, and suicide, whilst inspiring you to accept the transient nature of life and increase your capacity to find the light.
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