A beacon for loss and mourning.
What a heavy burden to bear.
You didn’t choose it.
Somehow sorrow enveloped you,
Defined you and never left.
People ground down by trauma
Are drawn to you by the shadow
That stays under the brightest sun.
Like it is proof that grief never ends.
Proof that we’re all defined by the miseries
That course through life and not
By the tiny measures of joy
Or the bursts of unexpected pleasure.
The possibilities held just out of reach.
The hope fading with the dusk,
Swallowed in the depth of your black eyes.
© 2022 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.
Writing and Photography by Jeff E. Brown 