The Weight of Memories by Valerie Parente
Memories carry weight.
I always have a memory of you
and you always have a memory of me
but when one person passes
that weight is no longer split evenly
all of a sudden it’s all on you
to carry all the moments we perceived
and memories all to one person
is what we call grief.
It is painful, but take it as an honor
that your loved one imparted them to you
now you get to carry them with you
in everything you do.
– Valerie Parente (1-1-2025)
Irrevocable by Valerie Parente
In my anxiety
I imagine
if I lost it all
and in my anxiety
I imagine
my reaction
to if I lost it all
and the first thought that comes to mind
is “I’ve had such a great life”
because something about being without
makes me realize how unfathomably blessed I’ve been
and in what I lack in the present tense
I’ve gained the ability to see how the universe once filled that space
and to be able to recognize a miracle
is an irrevocable miracle in itself.
The world can decay and the universe can evaporate
but to no longer be blind to how life was great
is not a loss, it’s a gain.
– Valerie Parente (3-15-2025)
Goodbye Girlhood by Valerie Parente
She knew it,
the day her Girlhood was dead and gone
it wasn’t a loss of innocence
in fact, it wasn’t even a loss.
Instead of deprivation
she was filled with awe
that her Girlhood even existed
regardless of how long.
In its place
gratitude had spawned
and she didn’t lament
instead she felt strong.
She was enriched
by who she once was
and she returned to the earth
to give back to a greater cause.
There is a prize with death
when you see life from above
and from that vantage point
you know how far you’ve come.
You’ll never know it was worth it
until the end of the song
and when you listen from a distance
you’ll know you’re where you belong.
– Valerie Parente (2-16-2024)
Give Yourself Time… to Cherish the Given Time by Valerie Parente
Time really does heal the heart,
you can’t see it at the start
but someday those many moments of having them
will outweigh the one moment you lost them.
– Valerie Parente (6-17-2022)
The Carrier by Valerie Parente
You have been given the greatest honor
when your loved one is visible no longer
and now you get to carry them with you
in everything that you do.
It will be challenging some days
but you will always find the strength
because wherever there is hurt
there was love there first.
There will be confusion but it always comes back
to this everlasting fact:
that loved ones remain forever within
so you never have to be alone again.
– Valerie Parente (5-16-2022)
I Still Dream of You by Valerie Parente
I still dream of you
and I never get confused
because at the core of my consciousness
I realize you never really left.
When I see you in my dreams
everything feels like its true quality
and there is never a question
just a reoccurring remembrance
that I might have lost you in this life
but that loss didn’t reconfigure my mind
and within me, you are always present
within me, you rest in heaven.
– Valerie Parente (11-13-2021)
Hummingbird (A Loved One Says Hi) by Valerie Parente
We spoke of her
while tears overflowed
remembering our love
when it had a place to go.
That was when
our pain became borrowed
nature came by
and acknowledged the sorrow.
A sweet hummingbird
tapped on the window twice
that little girl came back
to show us she’s alright.
And even if
that body wasn’t hers
it still sparked
a sweet reminder.
We won’t know the truth
but we do know this
that another being’s life
made us think of her image.
What remains true
is the shape of nature
a circle of incarnations
being made by a maker.
Not in this life
can I ever be sure
that the hummingbird
was really her.
But what I am sure of
is a feeling so profound
that this little bird’s life
is tied to where she is now.
– Valerie Parente (7-24-2021)
Change, So Bittersweet by Valerie Parente
I’m surely not the first to call change bittersweet
because this is the goal… for you to reach a dream
and that means one day you will leave
from my space in my little reality
and I truly am happy for you
but this mechanism called time is so cruel
because there’s a linear progression
that incites loss in this dimension
and I know you’ll be okay
in this brand new escapade
but that certainly doesn’t mean
I won’t miss witnessing your journey.
– Valerie Parente (5-26-2021)
The Gift (II) by Valerie Parente
The honest to God truth
is that if I didn’t lose
I never would have had the room
to fit something new into.
– Valerie Parente (5-25-2021)
The Guardian Angel Complex by Valerie Parente
When you lose a friendship, it creates a hole,
you notice all the places you used to go,
and a crater in the shape of another soul.
But when you lose the life of a friend,
there is a Guardian Angel Complex,
and you still feel their spirit in your chest.
This is precisely why my worst grief is not from death
but from the loss of a relationship.
I know that in death there is peace,
in death, you are still with me.
But when a relationship meets its demise
it fades with all the good times.
Wipe your tears, there is no need to cry,
at the completion of someone’s life.
In the physical world someone can fade away
but in death they materialize into an emotional state.
Do not make grief the enemy,
grief is the universe’s way of hinting at peace.
When there is loss of life and you feel disbelief
that dissonant feeling is all the proof you need
that the souls that leave with love, live on infinitely.
– Valerie Parente (2-9-2021)
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