Love lingers in the face of grief

love. love wraps itself around everything it touches. it kisses wounds and leaves marks of its own kind. it scares the brave and reassures the frightened. it fades into oblivion but never fades away. it shape-shifts and finds a way to heal you, break you, and then heal you again. love. when it arrives it might be recognizable, unforgettable. love. when it leaves, it doesn't quite leave, only shape-shifts into something unrecognizable, something more unforgettable. love. when I think of loss, I am reminded of love, for it is the same emotion poured in a different mold. love. when it has filled your cup and longs to fill another's but cannot, it boils into something greater than itself. it overflows to find safe places to be in. it finds a way to your eyes, the seat next to yours at the dinner table, the forgotten song, the street behind your house, the cup of tea now grown cold, the hand-me-downs. love. it always finds a way to linger. it may change into something unrecognizable, but it stays, always, in you, around you.

when I think of loss, I am reminded of all the love left. and maybe that proves that there is nothing greater than love itself.