There is grace, yet
A poem about grace and being present in the midst of suffering and grief.
A resource by Charlotte Nuessle
“There is grace, yet”
He was hurt when young.
It burned away with his wisdom
And left him more radiant
But there was no reversing
the dementia
She had to speak for him
She had to know what he wanted
Without him having words
She didn’t know how to love the changes,
She learned
She bumbled
Her loving was enough
There wasn’t room for perfection
24/7 years of caregiving
His inability to speak
Took away conversations
He didn’t have
When he had no words left
Having to say for him,
“Yes, we choose Hospice”
Told she was doing it wrong
That their loving and her loving was wrong
She shuddered, going with him
to the edges of a vast unknown emptiness
The heavens told her
“There is grace, yet.
Shout it out!”
The wretched loneliness, the doubt, the gnawing
Opened a way
It did
It opened a new way
A channel that is clear and strong and true
Connected to all that is
Now and as far as her eyes,
her heart, her soul can see
and a way beyond
Charlotte Nuessle, 1/15/26
Back to Community Resources