Grief And Joy Poem by Daniel Brick

Inspired by a poem by Pamela Sinicrope

I

Grief pulled me from sleep. It was
a shallow sleep, so I was immediately
awake and saw Grief's heavy face
lined with deep furrows, but his eyes,
his eyes were shinning with care.
He dredges from the bottom-world
on the other side of sleep deep truths
of our existence. Oh, he is thorough!
He will carry them to whatever surface
we occupy, and there, there we can make
a peace between Fate and Freedom. Do not
expect a quiet moment. Grief will be
our advocate, he will keep us awake and
alert, but we must prepare ourselves
to endure the fear that undermines
us, as Fate passes across the roof
of the world, and Fate's
trumpets blast our pride. We must bow
our heads, bend our knees, and abase
ourselves beneath the Reality of Power
beyond the reaches of our souls. Even
Freedom is a blunt force and we will
shudder until Grief restores our sleep.

II

Joy pulled me from sleep. It was
a shallow sleep, and she entered it
as music and gradually released me
from its hold as the inner music
swelled, then slowly dissolved,
even as pale light prevailed over
darkness. But Grief has his say
even in a time frame measured by Joy.
As he withdraws to his void, dark, and
drear solitude, he demands Joy make
her peace with Fate and Freedom,
in her own gracious way. And so we,
mortal witnesses, see a vision of
a young sapling rooted along
a much-traveled road, a tender maiden
walking along a sea shore, and an almost
invisible goddess hovering between them.
They are three in one, shimmering in noonday
light exchanging positions and identities,
in their interplay of feminine realities,
answering Grief's display of Power with
Joy's apotheosis of - Beauty.

(Quotations:
Beyond the reaches of our souls - HAMLET
A grief... void, dark, and drear - DEJECTION: AN ODE, Coleridge
The Trumpets, etc. - THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
The sapling, maiden and goddess - HOMER'S ODYSSEY, Book 6, l.162-
185.)