Grief is not new to this community. It is something that lingers around, reminding us of things lost. This week, Leah Pitchfork uses poetry to guide the reader through sound and feeling, challenging readers to see grief as love.
"Grief is Just Love With Nowhere To Go"
by Leah Pitchfork
You can't get a breath down when you're in pain
Pull out all the shards of glass and let them fall
Stare until they turn back into sand and shadow
Then take a deep clear breath
Feel the drumbeat of life as it pounds through your veins
The djembe drums
Grief is just love with nowhere to go
Dare to sit still and let your soul wrap you up
To feel the wounds to feel the weave to feel infinity
And look for your way
To move that grief-love just a fraction
Pour the drumming into it and know
That you don't have to stop
That you don't have to be afraid of your self
That beautiful fractured darkness
Ready to refract the light that waits for you to speak it
Back
The baobab trees and safaris
The years of reading aloud
First rains as the dirt of a year pours over and through you
Sunrises on dunes and cupped palms
Prayers whispered as you stroke my hair
Laughter laughter and more laughter
As the sun burns hot and bright each day
Constant
Grief is just love with nowhere to go
And there was and there is so much love
Give it somewhere to go
And see what the grief
Wound through the very fibres of your being
Might become
Leah grew up on the move between lots of countries. She attributes parts of her identity to Senegal, England, South Africa and Malaysia to name a few. These moves fed a love of movement and looking for details and natural beauty in any place she lands. Poetry and art are how she connects with her experiences of the world; without them all is lost. But that’s not that dramatic cause you can never lose them, they are tucked inside your soul. Currently she lives Malaysia.
More of her poetry and art can be found on Instagram @languidligretto and @toyoufromleah. Family travel tips and stories are @ourlifeandahalf.
