She moves through the world
With a quiet strength
No one ever taught her.
Morning still comes,
The sun still rises,
But something in her heart
Woke up one day
And never felt the same again.
She carries memories now
The way other people
Carry photographs
Carefully,
Close to her chest.
A laugh she remembers.
A small hand in hers.
The sound of a voice
That once filled the rooms
of her home.
People see her walking
Through the grocery store,
Standing in line,
Smiling politely
When someone speaks to her.
They do not see
The other world
She carries inside.
The birthdays
That feel quieter now.
The empty chair
That never used to be empty.
The questions
That sit in the silence
Late at night.
A grieving mother
Does not stop being a mother.
Love does not disappear
Simply because
A child is no longer here.
It lives
in every memory
she protects.
In every story
She still tells.
In every moment
Her heart whispers
Her child’s name
When no one else
is listening.
Some days
The grief feels loud.
Like waves
That crash without warning.
Other days
It sits softly beside her,
A quiet reminder
Of a love
That once filled her arms.
But she keeps going.
She wakes up.
She breathes.
She steps into another day
Carrying both
love and loss
In the same fragile heart.
And that is a kind of courage
The world
Rarely sees.
Because a grieving mother
Does not stop loving.
She simply learns
How to hold that love
In a different way.
Grief Poetry 