fruits of solitude



"They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it.
   Death cannot kill what never dies.
   Nor can spirits ever be divided, that love and live in the same divine principle, the root and record of their friendship.
   If absence be not death, neither is theirs.
   Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.
   For they must needs be present, that love and live in that whch is omnipresent.
   In this divine glass they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure.
   This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal."

William Penn, from More Fruits of Solitude

when i read this exerpt, in my head it makes sense. my mind trys to tell my heart "see? you should not have to struggle from grief, because death is just a crossing of the world. you are still connected to that person, even though its not physical. there is no need to waste your time in being sad!!"

but i feel that the heart can never level with this logic. no matter what your brain tries to rationalize greif and death, your emotions need time to process loss.

i wish that the process of grief was as simple as this poem. i agree that you are always connected to your loved one, even in death. but how hard it is to cope with not being physically able to communicate with them, hug them, be comforted by them, laugh with them. you can only remember their smile, funny quirks and mannerisms, & their personality. but your memories of them, no matter how meaningful and beautiful, are only fractions of their character and being.

its true, friends and relations are alive still in our hearts, but being separated by the barrier that separates life and death is the tormentor.

how wonderful for those who have passed on, to be freed of all of lifes struggles and pain. how sad it is for us who have been left behind.