On grief

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Rosalind C Hughes

And so he died, and all at once I understood 
more of grief than I had before.
It beckoned from beyond the door 
of the tomb. In its mosaic floor 
I saw mourning not for what was lost 
only but for what never was,
and missing for an amputated pain, 
numbness being a disordered sensation. 
I read forgiveness in the tessellated tiles
of other lives reordering themselves 
to fit in this last loss; grace in the merciful 
embrace of life beyond experience. 

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About Rosalind C Hughes

Rosalind C Hughes is an Episcopal priest, poet, and author living near the shores of Lake Erie. After growing up in England and Wales, and living briefly in Singapore, she is now settled in Ohio. Rosalind is the author of A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing , and Whom Shall I Fear? Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence, both from Upper Room Books. She loves the lake, misses the ocean, and is finally coming to terms with snow.
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