Judah Halevi was a Jewish poet, living in Spain about a thousand years ago. He left us a beautiful poem that I think captures the essence of grief. The translation has been attributed to Chaim Stern, around 1930.
It’s a fearful thing to love
what death can touch.
A fearful thing to love,
hope, dream: to be —
to be, and oh! to lose.
A thing for fools this, and
a holy thing,
a holy thing to love.
For
your life has lived in me,
your laugh once lifted me,
your word was a gift to me.
To remember this brings painful joy.
It’s a human thing, love,
a holy thing,
to love
what death has touched.
For more of his poetry, click here.
To read more about grief, go here
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I have written hundreds of articles on mental health and relationships. The latest are published in a weekly Substack newsletter, The Reflective Eclectic.
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