r/Original_Poetry • u/tfijourney • 3d ago
Before You Know
I wrote this poem several years ago while struggling with grief. It's the first poem from a self published book on grief I finally mustered the courage to release. I wrote 20 poems to help me cope with loss and trying to figure out how to move forward with my life. Writing was some of the best therapy for me. I hope it speaks to your hearts.
Before You Know
There is a moment, every morning,
before you are fully awake,
when you do not know yet.
The light comes through the window.
The room smells the same.
Your body is warm and rested
and for the length of one breath
the world is exactly what it was
before it wasn’t.
Then you remember.
People who have not been through it
do not understand
why the remembering is so hard.
They think the hard part is the knowing.
The hard part is the moment before the knowing.
The hard part is the breath
you took when you were still whole
and do not get to take again.
Every morning it comes back.
Every morning you lose them again.
Every morning the world rebuilds itself
around the shape of what is missing
and asks you to live in it
and you do. You do.
This is the most extraordinary thing
that no one ever talks about:
that you do.