A Seuss-Inspired Holiday Message for Grievers
By Stephanie Sarazin
If despite all your trying,
No things ease your achings
Give into your Grief
Like holiday bakings
Feel angry and mad,
And feel hopeful and glad.
In a circled grief group,
or alone on your stoop.
Feel it tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow, too,
and know how you grieve
is all up to you.
Just do check-in
with the beat of your heart,
and remember that Love
is where Grief got its start.
And nothing is greater
or ever-more-true
than what comes from Love
And what Love can do.
Yes, though your heart now
feels shrunk like a sweater,
I tell you out loud
“it will get better”!
Just keep your heart’s door
ajar just a bit,
and make room for One Day
when your Grief starts to shift.
For One Day will come,
and you will learn what is true,
That both Love and Grief
Really never leave you.
But you can embrace it
and carry it better
And stretch it and shape it,
just like your shrunk sweater.
So be griefy and groany
as long as you must,
And please borrow mine
if you’re fresh out of Trust,
But hold close this whisper
deep down in your Being,
<<Grief is just love
that you’re no longer seeing.>>
And what goodness might happen
if we all made this shift
and embraced our Grief
as Cindy Lou did The Grinch?
We’d find joy, and great comfort,
and a reason for singing
And we’d honor those gone
and hold space for the grieving.