Notes About The Poem

Love as Grief

Lately I’ve come to realize my definition of love
Is not about joy and completion and belonging,
But more about loss and longing
A sense of grief for what once was
But never will be again.
I don’t think this makes me unique
But probably not in the majority either.

I think of all this today
The one year anniversary 
Of Charlie Kirk’s assassination
Because the shock of that loss
To all of US is still so raw,
A wound just beneath the surface
That may never fully heal.
This recognition of love
Bound up inextricably with loss and grief
Makes me wonder if I am still in the minority.

I pray I’m not, as I wish the best for this nation
And this world, but I fear I am wrong,
And the callous heart that celebrates hate
Is still on the ascendant and not decline.
What will it take for America and the world
To have a change of heart?
I do not know. 
Maybe it’ll start with the sacrifice Charlie made,
But it still has so far to go.

(9/10/26)
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

Poem

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