Mourn to Live Well

We mourn to release the now absent other.

This frees us to re-enter daily existence.

We learned how to live, by living—
And mourning is learned only by mourning.

I learned how to mourn,
From my father’s life—
         followed by his death.
Then my mother died,
         completing my lesson.
I was angry and lonely.

To mourn successfully, to re-enter daily life,
I had to forgive them.

We all must forgive, to finish our mourning,
As the ideal parent or spouse never was.

We all must forgive,
to conclude our connection.

So, forgiving is essential to mourning.
         We forgive them for leaving.
         We forgive them for not having been what we wished for.

We must not skip steps in our lives.
Skipping steps prevents brightness and clarity.
So we mourn.

We mourn to become free of the past.
We mourn to regain joy.
We mourn to rejoin life.