To everything there is a season. There’s a time to leave home, and come into this world. There’s a time to leave this world, and return home – a time to be born and a time to die. This is true for all life in the Earth. There’s a 60’s song about and with this subject. This is also a phrase in the Bible.

But knowing this doesn’t make it any easier when it’s one of our own, and our grief feels like it will overwhelm us – whether it’s a human family member and friend, or an animal family member and friend. The grief is not just for the loss of the one(s) we love, but the loss of the quiet, just under the surface, joy we have of their being in our life.

I wrote words, too.

Cancer has no magic unto itself.
It is no sweet elixir
that gives insight, wisdom or maturity,

but, such is the feeling
deep inside one’s self
when faced with nothing else.

Life is real
when you peel
away the surface and the sleep.

When there’s no more lying
about living and dying,

When there’s nothing left
but life or death,

we know the difference
and we can speak of nothing else.

******

The seasons of birth, life and death are happening all over the world. And the grief can feel like it’s swallowing the whole of the Earth.