A free verse poem about those twin tormentors, grief and guilt.

Grief over his loss
combined with guilt
over things done and not done,
words said and not said,
have overwhelmed him,
have engulfed him like an amoeba
and slowly degraded his spirit,
digested his soul until now
he is but a shell of a man,
hollow and desiccated inside.

Nothing save the passage
of time offers real hope
for rekindling the spark
to make his spirit burn
brightly once again,
awakening his soul and
renewing his heart,
for the power to blunt
the corrosive sting of
these twin tormentors,
guilt and grief,
resides in Time alone…
sometimes.