Wilder’s “Bridge of San Luis Rey” is a powerful book for those who have lost friends.
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Tag Archives: death and dying
San Luis Rey, a Bridge of Love
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bridge of San Luis Rey, Grief, Thornton Wilder | Comments closed
Singing a Lullaby to a Dead Child
I write about the lullaby I sang to my dead son and a Eugene Field poem it reminds me of.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Wynken Blynken and Nod", death of a child, Eugene Field | Comments closed
Can Donne Help Us Cope with Death?
Meditations on Margaret Edson’s “W;t”–with further reflections on whether Donne’s poetry can help us handle death.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Death Be Not Proud", "If Poisonous Minerals", "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", Hamlet, John Donne, Margaret Edson, Margaret Wise Brown, May Justus, Runaway Bunny, W;t, William Shakespeare | Comments closed
How the Dead Talk to Us
Naomi Shihab Nye finds that the dead talk to us through the new closeness that we experience with those who remain.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Cinco de Mayo", All Hallow's Eve, All Souls Day, Naomi Shihab Nye | Comments closed
Trying (and Failing) to Shield Our Love
Stephen Crane captures the agony of loss.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "God Lay Dead in Heaven", Grief, Stephen Crane | Comments closed
A Message from the Mower in the Dew
Robert Frost’s “Tuft of Flowers” helped me grieve for my son in ways I am only beginning to understand.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tuft of Flowers", grieving, Nature, Robert Frost | Comments closed
He Sleeps Less Cold Than We Who Wake
Wilfred Owen’s “Asleep” looks with sorrow at the death of a comrade.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Asleep", anti-war poetry, Memorial Day, war, Wilfred Owen | Comments closed
A Child’s Connection with the Dead
Wordsworth’s “We Are Seven” captured my son’s sense of connection with his dead brother.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "We Are Seven", Children, William Wordsworth | Comments closed
Where Are the Games of Yesteryear?
Christmas I shared “Ballad of the Games of Yesteryear” this past spring when my father temporarily lapsed into dementia. But he wrote it as a Christmas poem and so I’m posting it again as I mourn the first Christmas spent without him. Now that he is dead, the poem contains special meaning, echoing as it […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times", "Ballad of the Toys of Yesteryear", Christmas, Francois Villon, nostalgie, Scott Bates | Comments closed