Goodbye
and then you were gone,
the moon twisted to unseen and dead beat stars gave up,
the earth cracked open and the doors to heaven slammed shut,
the wolf lost all hunger and sprawled in the darkness, surrendering
to nothingness, a great emptiness inside, spreading from stomach to heart
to fingertips, strangely light, outstretched, reaching for one last touch, before the tears
wash away the past, for the weeping now, of sobs convulsing and shoulders trembling,
seized with the fractured space, that is the world without you,
goodbye,
_________________________________
July 27, 2014 at 12:38 pm
yes, that is how it is
July 28, 2014 at 4:18 pm
yes it is – thanks buddy71
July 27, 2014 at 1:46 pm
Very heart felt. I can identify with this, Gabrielle.
July 28, 2014 at 4:18 pm
thanks Helen
July 27, 2014 at 1:48 pm
I felt this Gabe … beautifully written 🙂
Like your new space here too btw.
July 28, 2014 at 4:19 pm
thanks Geoff 🙂
July 28, 2014 at 1:19 am
The depth of emotion in the poem is very palatable.
July 28, 2014 at 4:19 pm
thanks Charles
July 28, 2014 at 7:25 am
This is too urgent to not be a personal and recent bereavement. Brilliant.
July 28, 2014 at 4:20 pm
actually I wrote it some time back Stafford so it’s not recent at all – but thanks anyway 🙂
July 29, 2014 at 8:10 am
This is a stunning expression of grief. I notice you have a reblog button, does that mean you don’t mind if I share this? Bereaved people follow my blog and I think this would speak to the depths of their grief. It certainly does for me.
Please let me know if it’s ok to share your beautiful words.
Tricia xx
July 29, 2014 at 8:45 am
share away and thanks for your lovely comment tricia 🙂
July 29, 2014 at 9:08 am
Thanks so much, Gabe. I’ll also share with the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement with a link to your blog. Your wolf metaphor is beyond words.
Hugs from touchy feely me.
July 29, 2014 at 9:19 am
hugs from me too 🙂
July 29, 2014 at 9:19 am
Reblogged this on Writing the roads of grief and commented:
This is a stunning poem on grief from Gabrielle Bryden’s Blog.
August 2, 2014 at 1:35 pm
A beautiful poem , which encapsulates the shock and emptiness.
“the fractured space, that is the world without you” – yes. I love this.
August 2, 2014 at 3:57 pm
thanks bb – not a feeling you want to feel too often!
August 9, 2014 at 2:58 pm
This brings tears to my eyes. A very painful goodbye.
August 11, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Thanks Three well Beings 🙂 for stopping by and commenting – much appreciated
August 26, 2014 at 5:30 am
Reblogged this on A Reckless Mind and commented:
The feelings of grief – the anguish, the loss, the abandonment – is so eloquently described in this poem by Gabrille Bryden that I had to reblog it on my blog. All credit goes to her, obviously. These powerful emotions of dolor are so vivid, daunting, especially at the onset when all can seem like a fathomless depth of eternal anguish and neverending suffrage. Although the dejection of something so traumatic* to ones soul, body, and/or mind may never go away completely, it does and will improve with time. I promise you it gets easier to live with, just take one day at a time. Trust me, I know.
*trauma is always relative – something seemingly minute or “no biggie” may be another ones hellstorm of woeful heartache – or a trigger to a past event. No need to ever one-up someone when it involves grief of any form or reason. Just my opinion – obviously loss of a child isn’t on the same par as a puppy-love BF/GF breakup, but I’m banking on the fact that you know what I mean. ;-))
August 26, 2014 at 11:07 am
Thanks Anna – I do know what you mean – it is never a good idea to compare people’s situations with regard to grief or depression etc., no-one knows what people are dealing with. Just for the record, this poem is not about the loss of a child – I wrote the ‘goodbye’ poem first and the ‘hello poem second – death followed by life, the circle of life – but it is about a number of people that have died in my life – a merging of all those feelings (it can also relates to loss that has nothing to do with death – breakups etc.,)
August 26, 2014 at 5:37 am
Thank you for this – so en pointe, seriously. Would it be OK if I re-blogged this poem? (with all credits given, of course). Again, thank you for posting – cathartic to my life right now. love your poetry and happy to have stumbled upon your blog, which I’m now following.
August 26, 2014 at 10:58 am
thanks Anna – of course you can reblog (no need to ask) – glad my poem spoke to you!