The Healing

I’ve posted this before, but I think this may be the best thing I’ve written. It was a poem I wrote for my friend, Doug Rockwitz, upon his passing in December 2020. I included it in his biography, Rock the Hard Way. Since then, I included it as a gift to the family of a co-worker who died suddenly. Those who have read this poem find it comforting in their time of loss. I offer it to you to consider in those times as well. I hope you never need its solace, but when you do, I hope that you too might find it inspiring.

THE HEALING by Michael Lauer

You left us too soon and it just isn’t fair
You see their shadow even though they’re not there
It shouldn’t have happened, there’s no reason for
The void in your heart ripped down to its core
The unanswered phone, the last text received
The absence of presence that brings disbelief
The ghosts of the memories, the laughs and the tears
That don’t wash away regardless of years

It feels like its winter with cold rain but no snow
Surrounded by people, you’re always alone
You know that your life will not be the same
Like fire in the darkness that’s missing a flame
The voice of assurance is now rendered moot
And fear of the future has instead taken root
The fullness of empty and the knowledge of pain
Are now so familiar they call you by name

But friends rally round you and on shoulders you cry
And stories turn legend as tears start to dry
The blessing of grief giving way to a smile
As spring follows winter if you just wait a while
With tissues and bourbon, with grace and with love
And renewal of hope from the sunshine above
See flowers now growing from the mud and the dirt
While healing emerges from the pain and the hurt

And you heal just a little bit
But you heal
Then you heal just a little bit more

But what healing does, it creates a scar
That no one can see but remains on your heart
And includes all the love and the memories shared
Of that person you lost, of that person who cared
And just like each day has the chance of some rain
Still there are days when you’re surprised by the pain
Of some random thought that throws you off stride
And you can’t remember the last time you cried

You can never replace the one that you lost
But so many others have paid the same cost
When you just open up to that which you feel
The love and the friendships become all the more real
Beautiful symmetry begins to come true
You there for them as they, there for you
From the pit that was made when you first heard the news
Emerges the friendship and hope is renewed

They went before us, now we’re last in line
Awaiting our turn and biding our time
As summer makes winter a mere distant thought
So life teaches lessons, with tears they are taught
The beautiful scar that remains on our heart
A constant reminder of those lives we are part
Each day that goes by without love for a friend
Is one more regret to count at the end