Candlelighting poems 2024

Still by Becky Hemsley

I can’t say I loved you. I just can’t
Because it makes it sound as if my love is past tense. Gone, finished, ended.
And that is so far from the truth.
My love is not in the past. It will never be gone.
I love you now. Still.
You didn’t take all this love away with you. It stays. It lingers.
Some days it jumps up and hits me in the face just to remind me that it is still here. Still persevering.
Some days it nudges me. Challenges me to keep going. Daring me to find the strength to get through the day.
But mostly, it just resonates inside of me with everything I do. With every step forward and every glance back. Every close of my eyes. Every breath.
My love is not dependent on you being here.
There is nowhere far enough,
and nothing permanent enough
to stop me from loving you.

So I will not say I loved you.
Because I love you.

Still.

***

Life Must Go On by Jane Rock

I am in a dream, standing

Gazing with unseeing eyes,

My thoughts with you, and

Yet you’re not with us.

Unspoken words, now a lifetime ago it seems

Since we last saw you,

So much sadness since then and unrest in my heart,

And yet life must go on.

Life has gone on

You are missed.

***

Quietly by Becky Hemsley 

I missed you quietly today. So quietly that no one noticed.

I missed you as I climbed out of bed and as I brushed my teeth; when I waited at the lights on the drive into work and as I heard the rain outside my window.

I missed you as I ordered lunch and as I kicked off my shoes when I got home; as I switched off the lights and climbed into bed for the night.

I missed you without tears or noise or fanfare.
But oh how I felt it.

I felt it in the morning, at lunchtime, in the evening and at night. I felt it as I woke, as I waited, as I worked. I felt it at home, on the road, in the light, in the dark, in the rain.

I felt it in every one of those moments, each one sitting heavier and heavier as the weight of me missing you kept growing and growing.

Yes, I missed you so quietly today.

But I felt it so loudly.

***

Poem from the Northumbria Community

Tread slowly as you walk with grief,
Speed does not help the journey.
Walk quietly.
Pausing often;
Do not hurry
As you walk with grief.

Don’t be disturbed
By memories that come to mind.
Swiftly hold them
And let the unspoken words 
Be resolved with love.
Be kind to the one
Who walks with grief

If it is you
Be gentle on yourself
Swiftly forgive.
Walk quietly.
Pausing often.
Take time, be gentle
As you walk with grief.

***

YOU
by Pauline Prior Pitt

You are my grief
you are my disbelief

my darkness and my light

you are bright sunshine
and the weeping rain

you are the sleeping leaves
the splash of waves

you are the vanished garden
the silent swing

you are the flight of birds
the sharp remembering

you are my everything

and when I light this candle
and say your name

you are the candle
you are the flame.

***

“The first Christmas I took care to be with friends and relatives, which was a lifesaver. But there were still moments that I felt overwhelmed by loss. In the end I found comfort by lighting a candle. Each Christmas Eve I now go down to the churchyard with my younger daughter and put night lights on the grave where Nikki and Robin are buried. Watching the candles burn in the dark gives me a feeling of inexpressibly deep comfort”.

Lighting a candle by Gina Claye

I lit a candle for you yesterday.
It seemed a comfort as I sat alone
in the sitting room, a joyous presence,

as if you’d walked in once again
with your wayward humour and listening heart,
and I sat motionless, held in your love.

And I wonder where you are now.
Are you waiting, stilled and existing 
in worlds I know nothing of?

Until that moment
when it is time once again
to light the candle. 

***

Take Them with You by Donna Ashworth

If someone you love 
did not make it on that trip 
you can take it 
for them 
with them.

If someone you love 
did not witness that milestone 
you can show them 
anytime you like.

If someone you love
did not get to do their living 
you can finish those dreams 
on their behalf.

The beautiful thing about love 
you see 
is that death 
need not stop life.
If you carry someone 
in your heart 
you can take them with you 
anywhere you like.