monica ramil
A Grief Prayer
Updated: Jan 28

I pray for you in those quiet moments
Between family gatherings and zoom prayer meetings
Between phone calls and text messages
When the house is quiet
And you would have otherwise heard her voice
Or the sounds of her stirring
Or just known she was there
I pray for you most especially during those times
That you allow yourself the full range of your grief
To scream into the void
To free fall into the agony of her absence
To find comfort and closeness in your shared pain
I pray that you discover her again and again
In untold memories
Resurfaced photos
A visit in your dreams
An unmistakable sign
A serendipitous hummingbird
The kiss of a passing spirit
All the ways she whispers that her love for you lives on
I pray that as you navigate this dark, unmarked path
And bump up against the edges of your existence
That as you swim in the abyss unable to tell up from down
You discover yourself
Your potential
Your depth
And also your center
Your breath
Your anchors
Your strength
May you allow yourself the grace to fall apart
and come back together again
May you be open to the different faces of grief
both within yourselves and each other
May you make space for each other’s messiness
May you know you can ask for what you need
And be gentle with yourself when what you need isn’t always clear
May you know you are loved and held by all of us
The village that holds you
-Monica Ramil
Shared with the permission of my cousin's family who lost their matriarch during the pandemic and for whom this prayer was written.