“I Am Chameleon by Stewart Stafford
I am the shadow in your peripheral vision,
A rippling in the brilliantine matrix,
A wind's mesmerising, gossamer lullaby,
The speck of dust for a euphoric sneeze.
I am the shimmering, starry shell of night,
The bird that bathes in transient pools,
A cloud, shaped by myriad perspectives,
Flaming phoenix flower picked to re-sprout.
I am the tribal cave of rest and warmth,
The cleansing pool of birth and rebirth,
The fire of light, heat, and nourishment,
The beloved departed's shawl on cold nights.
I am soup and a sandwich on a rainy day,
Banquet feast of a gathering of the clans,
Caviar of the commonplace, regal remnants,
An after-dinner mint to soothe and satiate.
I am the floating shadow clinging to the corner of your eye.
© 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
“But grief, too, is a kind of alchemy,
a slow and painful reshaping.
It does not stay as lead,
Though it feels it will,
pressing, suffocating, unyielding.
Time enters the crucible,
and with it, the heat of memory,
The fire of longing,
The slow stirring of what it means to love
and to lose.”
Source: Time With Trees: 1995–2025, A Collected Work
“Grief does not leave us;
It becomes part of the soul’s architecture,
a quiet gold vein running through stone.
It is the beauty in the cracks,
The light that seeps through
where we thought we were broken.”
Source: Time With Trees: 1995–2025, A Collected Work
“I Can't Believe They're Gone Emotions aren't good or bad, or right or wrong—they just are.”
Source: I Can't Believe They're Gone: A kid's grief book that hugs, helps, and gives hope
“Gamache could almost see the inevitable horsemen on the hill, above Hazel, snorting and pounding the ground, straining to be released. They brought the end of everything Hazel knew, all that was familiar and predictable. This contained woman was courageously holding off the marauding army of grief, but soon it would break free and sweep down and over her, and nothing familiar would be left standing.”
Source: The Cruelest Month
“The grief remained, and the guilt hadn’t gone anywhere, but they didn’t crush him the way they once did. They sat beside him instead, hollowed out by the years.”
Source: Noetic Gravity
“I begin to wonder if he can see me right now. What if when his soul rose to heaven, he caught a glimpse of me at this gay club with my tits out, taking pictures with a coked-up drag queen, surrounded by porn magazines.”
Source: Down the Drain
“The real losers are those who never try / Never dare to attempt what they desire”
Source: The Meaning Of Life Is To Fight: A Collection of Poems
“The first to die were the ones who had never been meant to live.”
Source: Where Is Death: A Cosmic Horror Tale About Six Broken Strangers and the Search for Death, Who’s Gone Missing Without a Trace
“Get cozy with your sorrow,
Cuddle with your grief.
Float with your fears,
And melt within your anger.
Stroll through your frustrations,
Your disappointments,
And your regrets.
Dive into your doubts,
Your powerlessness,
Your hopelessness.
Surrender.”
Source: Sense of Home