Singing the Unspeakable

Mirabai sang in the streets, in temples, alone—her poetry was her way of making the internal external, of witnessing her own grief and being witnessed. Anticipatory grief often lives in silence, a private rehearsal of loss that no one else acknowledges because the person is still alive. By adopting Mirabai's practice of singing the unspeakable—through writing, art, music, or movement—we break the isolation. The specific content matters less than the act: you are saying aloud, to someone (even if only yourself), *this is happening, this is real, this matters*. This validates the grief itself, which is often what anticipatory grief lacks. The dying or departing person may not know you're grieving them while they're still here. But when you sing—when you externalize the internal—you honor the relationship in a way that silence never does. You create a record, a witness, a sacred acknowledgment that this person has changed your life and will leave a hole.