Shaping Grief

Our nation mourns the terrible events of Friday night in Aurora, Colorado, and holds those who suffered – and those who are still suffering – in our hearts.

From H.D.’s “The Tribute:”

7

As we lift the bright heads

of the wild flowers,

compare leaf to leaf,

as we touch the hemlock and poppy,

may our spirits released,

forget this despair and torture,

this terror and doubt.

As we lift the bright heads

of the wild flowers,

may we know that our spirits are kept

as they are, folded and wrapped

apart in a sheltering leaf.

We are veiled as the bud of the poppy

in the poppy-sheath,

and our hearts will break from their bondage

and spread as the poppy-leaf—

leaf by leaf, radiant and perfect

at last in the summer heat.

May we know that our spirits at last

will be cleansed of all bitterness—

that no one god may trample the earth,

but the others still dwell apart

in a high place

with our dead and our lost.