grief poem

Spending Time With You – A Poem

Now that you’ve been gone so long
And life and time keep moving on
I spend less time within my room
Crying, weeping, feeling gloom

Those days, those months of constant grief
Incessant pain with no relief
The unrelenting agony
Of knowing you are gone from me

Have seemed to pass and though I’m sad
And tears still come, it’s not as bad
As I go on with my new life
The one where I am not your wife

But every now and then, it’s true
I like to spend some time with you
I curl up in our empty bed
And you’re alive within my head

I close my eyes and you are here
And I can feel you oh so near
We talk, we kiss, here in our bed
Just you and me, all in my head

I relive times I spent with you
First date, first kiss, our wedding, too
And little things we liked to share
My mind takes me most everywhere

I snuggle in your warm embrace
And stare into your smiling face
And live again in wedded bliss
Pretending to have what I miss

And though I’ve truly faced the fact
That you aren’t here, you won’t be back
And life goes on, and I’m okay –
At times, I need to steal away

And spend a little time with you
An hour or so, or maybe two
Some time to relive all we shared
To feel again how much you cared

An hour or two, just you and me
And each and every memory
Can comfort me and make me strong
Encourage me to carry on

I know it’s only in my head
And I’m alone here our bed
But sometimes when the day is through
I need to spend some time with you

About the author

Katherine Billings Palmer is a technical writer, poet, and essayist from Garden City, Michigan. She’s won several academic writing awards, including first place in the University of Michigan Dearborn Critical Essay Contest for her work about poet John Donne: “‘The Sun Rising’: A Lover’s Boast.”

In 2017, Katherine’s husband, Rick, died of complications from small cell lung cancer. She wrote a series of poems and essays about her struggles to cope with her grief. I Wanted to Grow Old With You is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

Her latest book, A Widow’s Words: Grief, Reflection, Prose, and Poetry – The First Year was published in January 2019 and is also available on Amazon.com.

Katherine is a guest blogger for the Hope for Widows Foundation and writes about her grief journey at www.TheWritingWidow.com.

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