On Grieving and Healing

On Grieving

And Healing

A Poem by

Ipshita Pal

Kind eyes they see,

the hollowness in me.

The remnants of

what was, and what

could have been.

My soul, it shrieks

it warps and it bleeds.

I’m trapped in the

darkness and I

cannot breathe.

I chase the ghosts,

the silence, it shows.

When I come to be

the doors close

in on me.

I run to the dark,

to find some solace.

But in the end I’m

confronted by

my own loneliness

Letting my mind,

take the reins.

It manifests my love,

and feigns a

bearable reality.

Emotion falls out,

drop by drop.

It sinks deep and I

let it grow.

Blooming again as

I open my eyes

on a new tomorrow.

This poem was written by me as a means of trying to heal from a personal tragedy. The timing coincided with a class project I had for my first year in grad school, so I decided to incorporate this poem into a motion graphics piece.

I have used frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation to add a more raw and personal touch to this piece. The essence of this piece is to show how tragedy occurs in the best of times, and we do everything we can to heal from it.

For me, this was a very cathartic process and it helped me create something that is very meaningful to me.