Voices of Experience: Anticipatory Grief Poem ~ "Edge of Day"

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[Reviewed and updated November 6, 2017]

Only he who suffers can be the guide and healer of the suffering. ~ Thomas Mann

Grief is the normal response to significant loss, but it doesn’t necessarily wait for death or separation to happen. It can occur both following a loss and in anticipation of it. Anticipatory grief and mourning can be felt as soon as the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness is given, at the moment when we become truly aware that death may happen to us or to someone we love.

If exploratory surgery, diagnostic testing, biopsies and the like are required to determine the extent of the disease, the ambiguity and uncertainty of awaiting a definitive diagnosis can be excruciating.