Maybe grief needs ritual, as music
Embraces rules that turn sound into song.
Maybe if one trusts that one won't lose it,
One can turn away, though grief be strong.
Reserve, then, days for rituals of mourning
In which one may allow the flood of grief
Again to inundate the heart, restoring
Life to deserts thirsting for relief.
Dance depends on choreography
As pain declares its sovereign right to be,
Yet performs with grace restrained and brief.
