GRIEF | MENTAL HEALTH

I Feel Guilty Enjoying a Sunny Day

A poetic meditation

(Photo by the author, 2014)

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Darkness
De-
scends
In gradations.
Depths of mutilated corpses
Exhumed

Cruelty
Wears many tints
The airstrike
The tank shell
The sniper bullet …

None more cruel
Than the silent!

(Photos by the author, 2024)

The sun, inviting
Birdsongs and flowers
At the height of spring
Beckon me

I resist.

How can I enjoy a sunny day
When children are cradled by mass graves?

I lurk in my self-imposed darkness
Pressed under layers of anger
I strain to suppress