Tuesday, December 06, 2005

eloquence in grieving, from The King's Touch

Upon hearing the news of his father's sudden death, main character "Jemmy" (nickname for James) writes:
"The world had changed dimensions. I turned, blundering through the door, banging and hurting myself. Somehow I wanted to run, even as I knew there was nowhere to run to."

This seems to be pretty accurate, especially of the first days and weeks:

"The world had not ended. It was simply become a world lacking the sun. Only the moon left: only that light, chill and empty, to live by."

oh how well novelists can sometimes say things. This is why I read...both literature and scripture. This is why I sing psalms, because my own prayers can't come anywhere close. To take another's words to frame my experience is the only way I can begin to even think about the way this has gone, the way I feel about it (and the way I don't feel about it), to give any voice or shape at all to this experience. And, ultimately, maybe to think about hope again.

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