Grief, absence and the promise of resurrection
The chair is still there.
I have not moved it.
Perhaps because moving it
would admit something
my heart already knows.
You are gone.

There are moments
when I forget.
A sound in another room.
A familiar song.
Something I almost turn
to tell you.
Then I remember.
And the room
becomes quiet again.

They tell me
I should be grateful
for the years we had.
I am.
But gratitude
does not make absence smaller.

Then I think of Jesus
standing beside a grave.
He knew what was coming.
He knew death
would not have the final word.
And still,
He wept.

Perhaps that means
my tears are not
a failure of faith.
Perhaps I can grieve
what death has taken
while still believing
what Christ has promised.

So the chair remains empty.
For now.
But because of Him,
empty
does not mean
forever.

Inspired Version Scripture

John 11:25–26
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Behind the Poem

Christian hope does not ask us to pretend that death does not hurt. At Lazarus’s grave, Jesus knew resurrection was coming, yet He still entered the grief of those around Him and wept.

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