DEATH'S BELOVED by Gigi Guggenheim

I wrote this poem as a way to tell my journey after my boyfriend died of melanoma…

He had a very conscious death and described an invisible woman coming into the room at the very last moments of his life.  I was left seeking answers and trying to figure out what happened to him and to all of us after we die. 

I cloistered myself away for a long time studying and studying everything about death, religions, near death experiences, art as it relates to death and philosophy.  Through months and months of contemplation on death and the meaning of life and then more years of living I was able to write this poem.

Death’s Beloved

by Gigi Guggenheim

She met me

while I was laboriously

engaged in pulling the breath out of someone she loved

and after he was gone she was angry at me

at my existence and not aware of my necessity

yet she was captivated and could not stay away

she found me everywhere and in everything,

pursued me thru history,  science,  stories and poetry.

Her unwavoring interest seduced me to cast my dark shadow

so deep that her eyes were forced to open wider at my horror

at my side of polarity

the unseen hands pulling out the last long breath

of the old, sick, wounded

I am the one they see at last

I am the one that engages their soul beyond suffering

I am the dark passage

As she grew in solitude of her own waking death

she saw her own final breath 

and the day I would take her inside.

In a paradoxical embrace she fell in love with me

so she wouldn’t be stuck, so that things could grow.

We danced in transience, we danced in time

So despite the shadows light would emerge

Light ever excited by awakening

 illuminated all that lived

so deep beauty could be seen

in equal measure to decay 

all they grey came into being as well

as the three of us spiraled in and out of shadows

leaves, sparkles, spider webs, skin, fur

infused with multidimensional rainbows

as she walked, as she talked

she bathed in the light and she bathed in the dark

in humility she surrendered to the truth,

and became the love between life and death.

Gigi Guggenheim is a rainbow warrior, animal activist, writer, healer, empath, deathie, and sojourning introvert who loves to connect where it matters. She is proponent of taking 100 percent responsibility for ones earthly experience and looking deeply at what prevents that from happening has been her main focus in healing the wounds with in herself and in supporting the people around her. Gigi cultivates a life long interest in the afterlife and nature of consciousness within humans and animals alike. She has studied deep tissue massage and travels extensively and regularly to Thailand learning Thai massage and healing arts. She befriends animals wherever she is, volunteering at wild life refuges, street dog shelters and at home is a organizing member of March For Elephants out of San Francisco. You can connect with her on Facebook, or Soul Undertaking, and her blog here. 

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