[Dialogue] Four Gates of Grief

[Karen Snyder]

Ellie,

This poem is very fitting relative to the message about the gates of grief. You have shown an amazing sensitivity, intuition and on-point poetic response that speaks to me. I am living today in gratitude for a new day. Thank you.

Love and peace,

Karen

> On Oct 30, 2023, at 7:00 AM, Ellie Stock <elliestock at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Karen,
> A preliminary response . . . also attached.
> Ellie :)
> elliestock at aol.com 
> 
> I THOUGHT I HAD SHED ALL MY TEARS
>  
> I thought I had shed all my tears,
> a lifetime of tears,
> drops rivuletting canyons in once smoothe skin,
> cascading into deltas and emptying into a sea of sorrow,
> now parched and dried like
> my once choking and burning throat.
> I thought I had shed all my tears,
> a lifetime of tears,
> sobs of shock and pain muffled in pillows,
> deep shaking heaves trying to catch breath,
> threatening to suffocate.
> I thought I had shed all my tears,
> a lifetime of tears,
> of hurt and hurting, of remorse for the done and undone,
> the betrayal of and by those close,
> the final separation from loved ones, land,
> and what is most cherished,
> of sleepless nights and
> prayers like drops of blood for the sick and dying,
> of births that never were.
> of fading health and dreams.
> I thought I had shed all my tears,
> a lifetime of tears,
> screams and cries of anger, fear, and anguish over
> the corruption, consumption, and killing fields of
> Earth and all that is in it,
> billions of years extinguishing
> in the embers and ashes of truth and justice,
> communities and trust shattered,
> innocent suffering,
> sacredness violated, sorrow unbounded,
> lamenting echoing lamenting, looping and looping and looping,
> grief unbearable, unconsolable, overwhelming, numbing,
> dried, vacant eyes staring stoically into the void,
> filled with harpies advertising, urging, encouraging
> to eat, drink, and be merry.  But
> how can I sing while mourning in
> this strange, foreign land?
> I thought I had shed all my tears,
> a lifetime of tears, no more left to be wiped away.
> I woke up in the middle of the night,
> anxiously awaiting dawn, but
> the heavens were weeping, lightning
> and street lamps the only light,
> cloud-bursting, four winds swirling,
> thundering, torrents and storms of tears,
> piercing the soil and bouncing off asphalt,
> quenching the drought-thirsty  trees losing
> autumn muted colored leaves,
> trying to cleanse, to refresh, to renew, to regenerate
> the parched planet and also
> piercing my soul, drilling into
> unbeknown, untapped fossilized tears that melted, trickled,
> moistened eyelids, then gushed,
> flowing, cleansing and renewing.
> No rainbow but deep gratitude and stillness and
> a new Covenant with a new day and
> All that is in it.
> Then I calmly reached for a box of Kleenex.
> ejhs
> 10/30/2023
> 
> 
> On Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 06:53:03 PM CDT, Karen Snyder via Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> This week the Daily Good had an article by Francis Weller called “Drinking the Tears of the World: Grief as Deep Activism”. Weller articulates four gates of grief that I have never known how to acknowledge before: 
> 1.  Losing someone loved
> 2.  Neglected places of soul such as as a sense of shame and feeling of inadequacy
> 3.  Losses in the world of species, habitats and cultures
> 4.  Loss of community and rituals that keep us connected to our soul
> 
> With this understanding one realizes that everyone grieves.  I find myself wondering how much anger and hatred in society covers a deeper experience of grieving. 
> 
> What is your response to this writing? 
> 
> 
> 
> Peace and love,
> 
> Karen Snyder Troxel_______________________________________________
> Dialogue mailing list
> Dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:Dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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