The Cemetery Of The Heart Poem by Jim Yerman

On an average day across the world 150,000 people die
Leaving many of us who are left behind to ask the question WHY?

Why him? Why her? Why now? We ask as we try desperately to cope
With our loss of balance, loss of focus, loss of desire…loss of hope.

Yesterday a friend of mine whom I’ve not seen in years
Informed me of his sister’s death and I was brought to tears.

Her death sent out ripples of sadness and when they finally my way came
I must admit, though far removed, they touched me just the same.

Cancer! How I hate that word for oftentimes cancer wins
In this case the sadness is doubled for my friend and his sister were twins.

There is no right way to cope with death, despite what the experts say
We muddle through our saddened anger and all the while we pray.

That we find a way to accept that a person we cherished is gone
And we wonder how from this point we ever will move on.

There isn’t a person among us who has ever taken a breath
That hasn’t had to deal with loss, and try to cope with death.

I’ve lost my mom and dad and other family and friends
It’s a basic fact of living that someday life must end.

At first the memory is fresh and the sadness can paralyze
Then slowly one day out of the sadness we come to realize

That the one we lost would not want us to remain sad forevermore
And we try to go on living as we once lived before.

It’s as if when death infects us, in an instant, overnight
Our world that once was filled with color, turns to black and white.

Then slowly with the help of family and friends the healing begins
And without us even knowing it the color slips back in.

And we’re able to store our memories with all the memories of those who depart
In a place I like to think of as the cemetery of the heart.

It’s a quiet often solemn place that in our heart has no parallel
The final resting place where our memories go to dwell.

Where we can walk among them any hour of any day
So the one we lost forever is never far away.

I know this may sound corny, this belief I am revealing
And I know it’s no consolation for the grief my friend is feeling

But when he is done grieving…when the healing process does start
I hope his sister finds a quiet place in the cemetery of his heart.