The Layered Now

photograph by Ashley Unbehagen

Sometimes grief seems like too much to bear

            and we instinctively hide

            seeking some way to dull its impact.

And that is exactly the moment we are invited

to soften enough,

to open enough,

to have courage enough

to see that Now is more

than the complexity of grief descending upon us.

Each grieving moment is layered with

the vast void of loss, that is true

but also,  the “nows” past

when our hearts were light with joy

and limitless with hope.

photograph by Ashley Unbehagen

Now is complex,

an intricately woven truth

made of memory , emptiness, gratitude and loss,

weaving the tapestry of a whole heart.

And

peace

is the One Thread that

binds and embraces it all 

infusing us with a strength that is surprising.