Adrift

This time last year, after the loss of two dear people, just five days apart, I encountered the poem, “Adrift,” by Mark Nepo. It’s a touching expression of what it feels like to live with feelings of grief and gratitude, both together. I’d love to share it today.

Adrift by Mark Nepo

Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
This is how the heart makes a duet of
wonder and grief. The light spraying
through the lace of the fern is as delicate
as the fibers of memory forming their web
around the knot in my throat. The breeze
makes the birds move from branch to branch
as this ache makes me look for those I’ve lost
in the next room, in the next song, in the laugh
of the next stranger. In the very center, under
it all, what we have that no one can take
away and all that we’ve lost face each other.
It is there that I’m adrift, feeling punctured
by a holiness that exists inside everything.
I am so sad and everything is beautiful.

Is there a word, phrase, or image that stands out to you?