Of the Broken Open-Hearted

The Freedom of Grief

Please do not be sad for me.
Please do not pity me.
Please do not treat me as though I am fragile.
Please do not try to fix me.
Please do not rush me,
or try to change how I feel in the moment.
Please do not hide your own grief, 
thinking it will ease mine.
Please do not change the subject out of your discomfort.
Please do not judge how I grieve,
or expect me to be different than I am right now.
Please do not assume I am strong simply because I appear composed.
Please do not pretend my reality is anything other than what it is.

For I am of the broken open-hearted.

The world I once knew has shattered,
and life has brought me to my knees.

Yet I am free—

Free from surface-level conversations.
Free from the trivial concerns that weigh on most minds.
Free from believing I can manage or control life.
Free from holding my tongue just to keep the peace.
Free from pretending in relationships that once drained me.
Free from giving time to what does not nourish my soul.
Free from denying mortality.

As I inhabit this new landscape,
I can see with greater clarity.

I see that only love matters.
And when all else falls away,
only love lives on.

For I am of the broken open-hearted. 

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Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

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