Grief is a solid breakfast
once eaten sits like a stone
deep in your being
a meal of rough moments
food for the sorrows to find
it begins each day
will not be broken
must stay ‘til it’s over
grief is a meal
not chosen but needed
when the world goes
to tumbling
grief is not glory
not splendid not wished
grief comes when it will
breaks fast into life
corners the market
creates the next days
Originally published in The Orchards Summer
Ursula Shepherd knew before she was nine, she would write all her life but life took her away from poetry as she followed her love of nature and became an ecologist. She is the author of a book, Nature Notes, and recently returned to poetry. Her poetry has appeared in, among others, Big Wing Review, Passionfruit, Sheila-Na-Gig, Unbroken, Grim and Gilded, Ekphrastic Review, and The Orchards.