[Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Four Gates of Grief

[Catherine Welch]

Thank you for sending “the Gates of Grief”.  I found this to be a wonderful piece for reflection.  It offers several paths that I had not fully considered.
Catherine Welch

Sent from Mail for Windows

From: Karen Snyder via OE
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2023 7:34 AM
To: Ellie and Carleton Stock
Cc: Karen Snyder; Dialogue at lists; oe at lists
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Four Gates of Grief

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
http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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