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.

It 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.

This, I am more than willing to explore.

Only through this body

do I come to know the truth.

Each step through this vessel

is what I know,

what it is for me to do.


To become an observer of all

that lives inside me—

this gift of grief and sadness

that 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.

For this is what I must do.

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 once offered.

But for now

I must walk

in silence.

Alone.

© Todd Greenberg – 08/22/25