It just takes time

“It just takes time.”
Time after time I heard these words,
Time after time they annoyed me.

For I did not want time.
Each moment of time took me further away from you.
Each time my grief lessened, you seemed further away.

And yet time passed,
As it always will.
And time eased the pain.
And they said it would.

The time has passed
When my entire body,
both inside and out,
was constantly in anguish
and each memory
left me gasping for air
and breathing was agonising.

The time has passed
when ever single thought
was devoured by memories of you,
from sunup to moonrise,
and weaving in and out of my dreams,
and focusing on anything else at all
seemed impossible.

Grief is still there,
but it flows through my body
at a steady pulse now,
like someone watching a lion from a safe distance,
instead of someone who fears it is that lion’s next meal.