The invitation

Sometimes the journey we take is not toward joy, but through grief. This piece came to me as a way of honoring that path — the choice to sit with sadness, to say “no” for now, and to trust that silence and solitude can hold their own kind of truth. Perhaps, in time, the “yes” will return. Until then, this is where I walk.

The invitation you have offered me
avoids the grief and sadness
that waits below the surface.
That is where I now choose to walk.

I do not know where it leads me,
but I accept this journey.

Only through this body
do I come to know the truth.
Each step through this vessel
is what I know to do.

To become an observer of all
that lives inside me—
this gift of grief and sadness
carries me forward to
what is yet to be seen.

But for now I must sit
with that gift—
the one of grief and sadness.

I have heard
that sometimes we must say no.
And from here
the yes may come.

Perhaps you will see me there again,
accepting the invitation
you have offered.

But for now
I must walk
in silence —

alone.

© Todd Greenberg – 08/22/25