<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Love to all,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Nancy Trask</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 9:41 AM Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Thank you Ellie for sharing with Karen and to care for all.<div>Evelyn<br id="m_-2595995263516554145lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from EKPhilbrook</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Oct 30, 2023, at 7:33 AM, Karen Snyder via Dialogue <<a href="mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">Ellie,<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Love and peace,</div><div><br></div><div>Karen</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Oct 30, 2023, at 7:00 AM, Ellie Stock <<a href="mailto:elliestock@aol.com" target="_blank">elliestock@aol.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div><div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div style="font-size:16px"></div>
<div dir="ltr"><div><div style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><font size="2" style="background-color:inherit">Hi Karen,</font></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><font size="2" style="background-color:inherit">A preliminary response . . . also attached.</font></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><font size="2" style="background-color:inherit">Ellie :)</font></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><font size="2" style="background-color:inherit"><a href="mailto:elliestock@aol.com" target="_blank">elliestock@aol.com</a> </font></span></div><div style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></div><div style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
THOUGHT I HAD SHED ALL MY TEARS</span></div><div style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><br></div><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
thought I had shed all my tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a
lifetime of tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">drops
rivuletting canyons in once smoothe skin,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">cascading
into deltas and emptying into a sea of sorrow,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">now
parched and dried like</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">my
once choking and burning throat.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
thought I had shed all my tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a
lifetime of tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">sobs
of shock and pain muffled in pillows,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">deep
shaking heaves trying to catch breath,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">threatening
to suffocate.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
thought I had shed all my tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a
lifetime of tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">of
hurt and hurting, of remorse for the done and undone,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">the
betrayal of and by those close,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">the
final separation from loved ones, land, </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">and
what is most cherished,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">of
sleepless nights and </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">prayers
like drops of blood for the sick and dying,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">of
births that never were.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">of
fading health and dreams.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
thought I had shed all my tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a lifetime
of tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">screams
and cries of anger, fear, and anguish over</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">the
corruption, consumption, and killing fields of </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Earth
and all that is in it,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">billions
of years extinguishing </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">in
the embers and ashes of truth and justice,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">communities
and trust shattered,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">innocent
suffering,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">sacredness
violated, sorrow unbounded,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">lamenting
echoing lamenting, looping and looping and looping,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">grief
unbearable, unconsolable, overwhelming, numbing,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">dried,
vacant eyes staring stoically into the void,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">filled
with harpies advertising, urging, encouraging</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">to
eat, drink, and be merry.<span> </span>But</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">how
can I sing while mourning in </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">this
strange, foreign land?</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
thought I had shed all my tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a
lifetime of tears, no more left to be wiped away.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I
woke up in the middle of the night,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">anxiously
awaiting dawn, but</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">the
heavens were weeping, lightning</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">and
street lamps the only light,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">cloud-bursting,
four winds swirling,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">thundering,
torrents and storms of tears,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">piercing
the soil and bouncing off asphalt,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">quenching
the drought-thirsty <span> </span>trees losing </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">autumn
muted colored leaves, </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">trying
to cleanse, to refresh, to renew, to regenerate</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">the
parched planet and also</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">piercing
my soul, drilling into</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">unbeknown,
untapped fossilized tears that melted, trickled,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">moistened
eyelids, then gushed,</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">flowing,
cleansing and renewing.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">No
rainbow but deep gratitude and stillness and</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">a new
Covenant with a new day and </span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">All
that is in it.</span></p><p style="font-size:16px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Then
I calmly reached for a box of Kleenex.</span></p><div style="font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;text-indent:0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">ejhs</span></div><div style="font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;text-indent:0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">10/30/2023</span></div></div><br></div><div style="font-size:16px"><br></div>
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On Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 06:53:03 PM CDT, Karen Snyder via Dialogue <<a href="mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:
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<div><div dir="ltr">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: <br></div><div dir="ltr">1. Losing someone loved<br></div><div dir="ltr">2. Neglected places of soul such as as a sense of shame and feeling of inadequacy<br></div><div dir="ltr">3. Losses in the world of species, habitats and cultures<br></div><div dir="ltr">4. Loss of community and rituals that keep us connected to our soul<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">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. <br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">What is your response to this writing? <br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><br>Peace and love,<br><br>Karen Snyder Troxel_______________________________________________<br>Dialogue mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net</a><br></div>
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</div></div></div></blockquote></div><div><I thought I had shed all my tears.docx></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div></div></blockquote></div><br><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Dialogue mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a></span><br><span><a href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net" target="_blank">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net</a></span><br></div></blockquote></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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