Week 7 - 08/10/22

Hi everyone!

Welcome to this weeks blog, I hope you have had a good week.

Again, another trigger warning as this week I will be writing about grief.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of the friend who I wrote about in week 5. It was an incredibly moving and emotional service, attended by a remarkable number of people - a testament to how many people have been lucky enough to be part of his life. What struck me most was the determination of his family to celebrate the joy and love that he gave to others and to him as inspiration to continue to live in that way. There was also a poignant part of a eulogy where it was recalled that at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic he made a very long list of those he needed to make sure were ok, however he was not on that list. Many people are guilty of putting others first even at the expense of looking after themselves. I have in the past always put others needs before my own which I think may have led to finding myself depleted and depressed. I do now make sure that I make time, no matter how busy life gets, to practise some self care and I urge others to do the same. It doesn't have to be something costly like a trip to a spa or a solo trip to recharge. Often it's just a walk on a sunny day, meeting with friends or listening (and singing along!) to my favourite music. It's not selfish to spend time on yourself, doing the things you love. I'd be interested to read what you do for self care- feel free to share some ideas using the comments section below.

I find writing is an excellent tool for "therapy" and helps me make sense of life and the events that happen. These past few weeks my writing has been in overdrive and this week's poem is one of quite a few that I have come up with. As you know, I tend to write in free verse style and don't often write poems that rhyme, although a lot of my song lyrics do. I find writing poems which have lines that rhyme extremely difficult as when I read them back I think they sound odd. However with this weeks poem the words that flowed initially did rhyme (not intentionally) so I went with the flow which resulted in the finished poem below (see what I did there?! ).

Have a great week,

Kathy

Another Pandemic

Another loss, another life gone

A family devastated; the community mourns.

The ripples of grief flow outwards

Piercing hearts, like a thorn.

A pandemic of infinite proportion,

men who are losing this fight

What can we do, those left behind?

There is no single solution, no way to make it right.

Relentless and painful questions.

Answers that will always be unknown

All that is wanted is to be reunited,

yearning for him to come home.