My dear friend Charlotte Taft, who has been facing enormous life challenges with unimaginable courage, wrote this beautiful poem, “Gratitude and Grief.“ She read it at our last writing group meeting, and I immediately asked her if I could share it in my newsletter.
Gratitude and Grief
Such strange dance partners.
They step on each other’s toes
And argue about who should lead.
Yet, when the music’s over,
They sit together on the porch
Hands entwined,
And marvel at the splendor
Of the night sky.
I love the image of Grief and Gratitude being such unlikely dance partners, because it fits perfectly with what I find myself experiencing today.
–Grief over the thousands of innocent immigrants being slammed to the ground,
shoved into unmarked cars, never to be seen again
–Gratitude for the love of my husband and his strong arms holding me when I
can’t contain the grief
–Heartache over all the wars raging beyond my view but not erasing my
awareness of all the lives ground to dust over hatred and greed
–Thankfulness for the shiny young pumpkins growing in our garden and the flock
of stunning Grosbeaks who stopped for a drink at our birdbath on their way
south.
I could go on and on.
Living with this shocking incongruity every day.
Love and beauty, terror and suffering, these are not natural dance partners, so of course, they have been stepping on each other’s toes.
But now, for me, the struggle for one or the other to take the lead is over. I know I must hold hands with both and learn to tolerate the paradox of me being able to sit by a beautiful lake in Colorado while national leaders militarize our cities, knowing there are countless ways to alleviate and prevent the suffering we have created, but that we haven’t yet found the will or the leadership to employ them.
The truth is I don’t always know how to hold hands with Grief and Gratitude together. But what I do know is that Gratitude helps me tolerate the Grief, find the strength to live another day, write another newsletter, talk on another podcast about what could heal us, hold onto Hope… and not give up.
They are sitting together, hands entwined, marveling at the night sky and urging me to take the next breath, write the next word, take the next opportunity to love better, and do what is mine to do.
Thank you Charlotte.
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