hold fast to love

Here as we cry

Casting our sights and longing

Upon the ones who have left

Feeling the sadness in our hearts

With the tearing of a leaving

That feels so much like an abandonment

Watching tears fall onto stony ground

Let us remember

We are

Bearing testament to love

Here as we ache

Hearts and bodies returned to an emptiness

A hollowing out that seems both

Vast

And ancient

Let us remember that all of this pain

Is not only ours

But collective

Let us remember we are also being used

As the witnesses

The bearers

The containers

And the way showers

Here as bear the pain

Of others hating what we have become

Wanting only to run

As they can only run

In fear from their own deep feelings

Let us remember to keep

Alive in our hearts

Both tenderness and mercy

For what we are witnessing now is the renting of the veils

The dissolving of illusions of control

And we must be strong enough to face

And bear witness to the pain

While never completely identifying with it

Never ever forgetting

To hold fast

To love