When Life Goes On
What is it, I wonder, that we set our hope upon?
There must come a point in this grieving
process when the choice is in my own hands.
In dark moments, I played with the idea of death,
listened to it, enjoyed it as one might enjoy the sweetness of forbidden fruit.
Then I made a decision: As impossible as it seems,
I must learn to live without my child, for I really have no other choice.
It may take many years, much longer than others might expect,
but a time must come when I have to accept her death
in order to accept her life, and accept my own as well.
Just as surely as my child walked towards eternal life,
I too must walk toward my own light;
finding a way through this tunnel of darkness to the brightness of a new day.
And in my own time learn to live again with laughter, love and joy.
For myself, for my child, for those still in need.
And so, just for this moment, just for this day, I set my hope upon Tomorrow.
In the beginning I rejected the idea of “going on”
Until I discovered my child can “go on” with me . . .
By Dana Gensler,
In loving memory of her daughter, Lindsay Nicole Gensler