Tsunami

February 2024

I think I’ve figured out how to heal.

Especially from grief.

The trick, I think, is to sit with it—

feel it. Let it hurt you.

Pain you. Break you.

Cry until you can’t breathe,

and then

keep

crying.

Put on some music. Upbeat or gloomy,

your choice—

hear the words resonate

feel the beat through your bones

and cry and cry and cry

a river—no, cry an ocean.

Feel how the pain rises in your chest

like a wave

mounting

Feel it rise until the wave starts to look like a tsunami

threatening to sweep you up in

all its vastness. And then,

let it. Take you. Take over.

Trying to contain a tsunami only worsens the damage

so feel the salty water flush down your burning cheeks

let it come. Let it run.

Let the water flow wherever it needs to go

and feel the pain slowly leave your body

like a wave

subsiding.

Feel. And heal. And heal.