Sorrow and Strength

/ delphini510

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Sorrow and Strength

Grief is commensurate
to the depth and intensity
of love;
Part of your life is gone
future dreams an empty abyss.

Leaving you to face bottomless pain.

Is the deep trauma of so much love
worth the price of loss,
someone asked.
Yes. A resounding yes
rose from my cracking heart.

You will never live fully without.

In numbness, suffering, confusion
We do not yet know,
that through the pain, this purgatory;
New strength will germinate.
Will grow,

new course will unfold
new clarity of mind and soul.

Often I think of my mother,
thank her for teaching me love,
with kindness, laughter and song.

My father was my hero
until I let him be a man,
He often visits me from beyond.
I thank him for teaching me strength,

about the world we live in
about honouring each man.

My uncle who sang so serenely
of Swallows arriving in spring;
Lifting hearts to the heavens.
Like an angel he was and is.

So the unfathomable pains,
that seemed to crush the heart
Has turned to deep and rich wells,

that is with me each day.
My great love for those passed,
my grief;
Is now my smile and strength.

© miriam ivarson

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62 thoughts on “Sorrow and Strength”

  2. Thank you Sharon for your deep and warm comment. I see the gifts from generations even clearer now. May we not lose these strong connections in our modern life. They do indeed bestow a richness upon us.
    Miriam 🤗

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  6. Had you not been blessed by having such pure, intense love Miriam, you would not have been able to express it so beautifully. Your poem was written by one set of hands, yet when I read it I hear several voices . We must feel sadness for those who never feel such.
    Thank you for sharing this with us.

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    • Thank you Nigel for just being. Your answer shows the depth of your understanding of my words. Yes, we must feel sadness for those who never feel such joy and pain. That is what made me write this poem. I really had this question during a lunch. It tore at me inside for long until I wrote this. Now the light broke through.
      I am so proud that you can hear several voices – I am sure you are right.
      miriam

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    • Thank you for your comment Ameena. I am glad the poem rang true
      for you. Family matters, they matter more than we might understand as it
      is part of us.
      As to positivity, after dark comes light. ❤️🦋
      miriam

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  14. Oh Brigitte, I am so glad that this post would coincide with your beautiful dream. How comforting and warm that must have felt for you. She wanted you to know that you will be just fine.
    Hugs back to you
    miriam

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  16. This is so wonderful Miriam and sets a flood of thoughts moving. Our families are part of our DNA and although they may leave us in body their spirit always remains. It might sound mad, but sometimes I think their spirits take over our pens when we write poetry. I sense you have captured this in your final lines.

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    • Davy, thanks for your beautiful comment, it makes me happy that I seem to have triggered both your thoughts and spirits. Yes, we share the same DNA but even more – we share our ancestral memory (cultural history ).
      Well, Davy, we know you are of sound mind 🙂 and I find your thought that one or more of those who gone before taking over the pen quite believable.
      In e.g. Native American beliefs this would not be considered mystic.

      Oddly Davy, from the first poem I wrote I said I wasn’t writing it myself and although I now put in some effort I still feel the same. And here you are, explaining it to me. 🦋😊
      Miriam

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      • I love this thought Miriam. I follow a Shamanic style of belief system and believe everything I write is given to me from the Universe. All I am is the conduit to pass it forward. Whenever there is doubt she always put something forward to be written about.

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  17. A brilliant handling of a poignant theme! Your words exude wisdom though!
    Sorrow and strength are pals Miriam…they always hold hands and come together like sunshine and shadows. Actually sorrow steels us to face the turbulences of life with grit. It recedes when we develop the resistance to bear the loss and next time it comes, we are prepared to receive it kindly, with the understanding that certain events are uncontrollable.
    A famous Urdu poet has said and I often quote him : “The glory of a garden is enhanced not just by flowers but by thorns too, pain too is required to live in this world.” (translated)

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  18. Thank you so much Balroop for your wonderful comment. Sorrow and strength being pals and coming together like sunshine and shadow. I really can’t say that I reached that far yet – at least after immediate loss. Unless you have to support someone else. Given time I totally agree.
    Would you believe, I have heard the quote by the Urdu poet both in England and Sweden. It is so true.
    Miriam

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  19. It sounds like some very special people helped form a very special you. Their light and love shine in you and through you. I’m glad you’ve had that kind of love in your life, Miriam, as everyone should really. And though the grief you speak of can be overwhelming, the strength it gives us is amazing.

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    • Lynn, thank you for your very beautiful answer. you have yourself a very warm and loving heart to be able to give such light to another.
      You are right, that sort of light and love should surround all children but sadly we know it isn’t so. Nevertheless so many grow strong and find their light.
      Yes, grief can be very overwhelming and it is amazing how it can turn to strength and solace.
      miriam

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  23. Thank you Shiva for you ur beautiful comment. I didn’t know that it wasn’t ordinary to turn Sorrow to Strength. It takes a period of time and suddenly…you realise it is there. It is a strong moment of communication.

    I am glad to see you are back Shiva and will read up on your posts. I am behind I think. So Valentine wishes for you too. In Sweden we call it “All heart’s Day” so it is not only for couples.:)) It is for love in its totality.
    Miriam

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  24. This is so deep, and wonderful. You’ve reminded me how much my loved ones who’ve passed on affected me–and still touch me every day. My mother, especially, but a favorite uncle, grandparents, and other treasured friends as well. Thank you for sharing your talent with us! ❤

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    • Julie, thank you for this beautiful comment, it touches my heart. I am so glad to have reminded you of the deep and rich well that those who are gone passed to you. I believe it affects us even when we are unaware.
      You honour me with your last sentence, thank you. 😊 . As an authour you know the delight of sharing comes back to you. ❤️🎈 .
      Miriam

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  25. A moving tribute, Miriam, to those who have now left us. The exemplary ending sums it up so well and honestly when you mention … “the unfathomable pains, that seemed to crush the heart” having “turned to deep and rich wells.” A brilliant and so perceptively expressed conclusion.

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  26. Thank you Roland for your moving comment. After reading your post this week I realised that we both – along with others – had written on the same subject. To me it is a joy that you could feel the way it really has turned out for me. I hope you will find those rich wells too.
    Miriam

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  27. Miriam, I am in quiet awe and contemplation every time I read your poem – and I’ve read it many times since you posted this! With such tenderness, wisdom, and grace you show us the richness and depth of love to be found in the hardest moments in our lives. This is a superlative poem, and much more so – guiding us to a deeper understanding of life and loss, giving us strength to bear the latter, the knowledge how to exist in the former. The details of your own life gives the poem heightened depth and poignancy. Wonderful and moving.

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  28. Annika, your deep, beautiful and loving comment touches my whole being.
    It is a great gift you given the poem and me, I feel a simple and honest ‘Thank You’ best as I am rather speechless.
    Bless ❤️🦋
    miriam

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  31. Thank you for your positive comment Diana, it is a treat in the morning.
    Yes, love is magnificent, maybe the most so of all feelings; should we then
    out of fear close love out. I am glad you agree with me in your strong no. ❤️🦋 miriam

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  33. Oh, Miriam, what a beautiful and poignant piece of poetry! This has touched me very deeply and your words resonate in me. I love the line “A resounding yes rose from my cracked heart.” It says it all. The price of love is high but we need, we must pay it to fully live out lives. Thank you for sharing this very personal poem, dear Miriam. I know that it will stay with me indefinitely. ❤

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  34. Thank you Sarah for you ur wonderful response. I am deeply glad that it reached into yur heart and rang true.
    The quote you choose was the start of the poem as the question actually triggered a flood of response. You are so right, we need and must pay the price or we are merely existing.
    I will treasure your last statement Sarah.❤️
    Miriam

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