Sweet, to Have Had Them Lost

Sweet, to Have Had Them Lost - meaning Summary

Loss Reframed as Gain

This short lyric reverses usual grief into a contemplative consolation: the speaker finds sweetness in losing loved ones because that loss means they are saved and therefore closer to the divine. Departures are reimagined as restorations, placing the absent at the speaker’s Right Hand—both the dead and those who "rose to go" become most precious. The poem values spiritual proximity over earthly presence, suggesting that absence can deepen worth and connection rather than sever it. Tone is intimate, paradoxical, and quietly triumphant about loss transformed into gain.