This is one of those times in my life when there is a lot of loss among my friends, family, and neighbors: retirement, job changes, illness, aging, and death. We forget that life IS change when we are merrily living through a calm patch.
Each of us finds ways to cope and keep on keeping on. People coping with different losses and ways to find comfort wrote these four poems. I hope they will touch you – and maybe give you some comfort.
- Robert Hayden, Those Winder Sundays, in Committed to Memory, Ed. John Hollander
- Stanley Kunitz, Touch Me, in Passing Through
- Marie Howe, What the Living Do, in What the Living Do
- Mary Oliver, Heavy, in Thirst
Painting by John Hope
