Poems for Healing through Grief among Tongans in Aotearoa - self reflections

Abstract

This submission presents two poems as a form of poetic inquiry into grief, healing, and the corporeality of life. Drawing from Tongan, Pacific, and Christian worldviews, the poems explore both the inevitability of mortality and the anticipatory sorrow of future loss. The first poem, Inevitably, we return to dust, reflects on the embodied journey of life and death, positioning mortality as both an interruption and a natural transition, framed through the imago dei and the eternal promise beyond time. The second poem turns to anticipated grief, voicing the tension of cherishing loved ones while knowing that their absence is inevitable, and acknowledging the limits of parental teaching when faced with mortality. Together, these works highlight how poetry serves as a method of meaning-making, allowing space for lament, hope, and relational continuity across time and eternity. They also demonstrate the role of poetic expression in health humanities: illuminating lived experiences of loss, spiritual understandings of death, and the healing process of articulating grief in culturally situated ways.