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

[Nancy Trask]

Thanks, Karen, for identifying such a meaningful discussion, so applicable
for me, and I assume for all of us.  Thanks, Ellie, for letting your
artistic intuition rip out such an incredible poem  -- definitely one for
the ages, and one that deserves a far bigger audience.
Love to all,
Nancy Trask

On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 9:41 AM Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook via OE <
oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> Thank you Ellie for sharing with Karen and to care for all.
> Evelyn
> Sent from EKPhilbrook
>
> On Oct 30, 2023, at 7:33 AM, Karen Snyder via Dialogue <
> dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> <I thought I had shed all my tears.docx>
>
>
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