Nights grow shorter. Birds return.
The long, mourning Winter softens into tender Spring.
Earth sweeps through her epic costume changes, and the actors come and go from the stage of our little life.
Nature, in her gaudy battle garb, conspires with dreadful Disease and fickle Fate to grasp home her own before timid Time can parry. The scene is ruined. The gig is up. We watchers mourn for lost Love, lost Hope, lost Life. We mourn for the Act that could have been.
Gentle reader, the play is true and hard. You too must take a role; you must lose what you love.
Tears, Sighs, Groaning and Agony: these dreadful sisters will accompany you. Your songs will be lamentable; your food and drink will be ashes, day and night.
Your tiny human mind and mortal body will be squeezed through an amazing labyrinth. An ordeal of fire will steel you against the inconceivable. Shackled to an unyielding rock, you will live and re-live the plot in the living land. When these trials come, you will be brought very low, but you will persevere and learn the new and weirder way.
After all that, an even stranger scene unfolds. You will long for Grief. You will feel doubly bereft, because Pain visits less often, and you will miss that too.
Seize the little foxes that destroy the vineyards.
The rain is over and gone. The time of singing has come.
Rest in peace Bruce Hill.
A stark and beautiful elegy Stephanie. Thank you for sharing it. Thinking of you and Bruce today. Best wishes, Meredith
How generous it is of you to share your tender, personal thoughts and feelings with us.
They resonate and comfort. Wishing you much laughter and music and less sorrow in the future
.mjs ( a fan).
Such wisdom! Pain and grief and glimpses of resolution. Life and Death and Resurrection. Spring follows winter. God bless you, dear Stephanie.
It is a blessing that we have the poets among us who can articulate and express the depth and breadth of emotion that we all feel; who can produce a sentiment in words that make so many of respond with “YES, I know exactly what she means”
Thank you Stephanie for being one of those poets, who can also put those sentiments to music. That was beautiful.
For each of us who have gone through this experience there are different memories and different kinds of pain. The decision to participate completely in the healing powers of Life takes courage. We move forward with the love and help of family and friends and yes.. with music in our hearts.
Dear Steph,
Such powerful poetic theologically beautiful words! You’ve once again let us glimpse into your journey of grief and given us so much to reflect on. No matter what, even missing the grief, or how difficult our individual journey may be…. “How can I keep from singing!” Thankfully we do this together in Pax Christi Chorale. As promised, Bruce and I raised a toast to Bruce and to you this evening. xxx
Thanks, my friends, for reading and responding with your own poetic thoughts. I feel much better today: we made it through another year : )
Yes you made me cry. What a poet you are-writting in blood-the only way.
Lovely to see you again, break bread and make music, after three decades apart!