I know the shore to healing can seem a long swim away, but I hope you find some peace in these poems on your journey. Excerpt: A few years ago I read a friend’s father’s obituary on Facebook. His father had requested in lieu of flowers, please take a friend or loved one out for lunch. Although I love flowers very much, I won’t see them when I’m gone. So in lieu of flowers: Buy a book of poetry written by someone still alive, sit outside with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and read it out loud, by yourself or to someone, or silently.Spend some time with a single flower. A rose maybe. Smell it, touch the petals.Really look at it. Drink a nice bottle of wine with someone you love. (Poem from Transactions with Beauty.) My father’s hopes travel with me years after he died. Someday we will learn how to live. All of us surviving without violence never stop dreaming how to cure it. (Read full poem at Poets.org.) Because I gazed out the window at birdsdoing backflips when the subject turnedto diamonds, because my eyes glazed overwith the slightly sleepy sheen your cake will wear, never let it be said that I’d rather befiring arrows at heart-shaped dartboardsor in a cave composing polyglot puns.I crave, I long for transforming love (Read full poem at Poetry Foundation.) If you’re still hungry to read poetry beyond these poems about losing a loved one, I recommend checking out 15 Soul-Stirring Poems About Music and Its Power.
