Maybe Grief Needs Ritual, as Music

Hear me read
the poem as
an MP3 file.

Watch me read
the poem as
a YouTube video.

Music: Birthday Present.
By Lovira.
Performed by Lovira at the Free Music Archive
under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

Alpha List

Memorial
Day Poems

About This
Site

Poems for
Free

Maybe grief needs ritual, as music
Embraces rules that turn sound into song.
Maybe if one trusts that one won't lose it,
One can turn away, though grief be strong.
Reserve, then, days for rituals of mourning
In which one may allow the flood of grief
Again to inundate the heart, restoring
Life to deserts thirsting for relief.
Dance depends on choreography
As pain declares its sovereign right to be,
Yet performs with grace restrained and brief.

Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.

Subscribe to this site on Substack

Subscribe to this site on YouTube

Subscribe to this site on Medium

Follow this site on Facebook

Follow this site on Instagram

Follow me (nickgo1940) on TikTok

Visit my Google blog