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.