Member-only story

What grief feels like

A poem written a year on

Michael Freer
1 min readApr 21, 2024
Photo by Emily Bernal on Unsplash

My heart shattered,
Like when a light-bulb explodes,
Into infinite shards.

I searched for those pieces in the darkness that ensued,
Trying to pick up fragments,
Seeking without direction.

Treading so carefully, but not carefully enough,
Each step was so painful at first,
There was no way to turn without tears.

A sharp stab that would linger,
Microcuts that slowly heal,
Different memories and emotions.

Even when I didn’t move, and chose to rest,
My dreams would be pierced instead,
Only staying awake would stop it.

But I couldn’t stay still,
I had to feel around,
Try to gather and reconstruct.

I wasn’t alone.
I heard the woe and sorrow of others,
Made worse since they weren’t strangers.

Their bulbs had blown too,
Their process was the same,
The pain and length differing.

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Michael Freer
Michael Freer

Written by Michael Freer

Social enterprise enthusiast, avid traveller and fiction writer. www.ensoco.co.uk

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