19 Comments
Feb 15, 2023Liked by Reena Kapoor

No words really - anything goes. Grief is just there. In the smile, laughter and the fleeting tears which are removed even before they threaten to fall.

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Hugs Mona. I hear you. ❤️

Thanks for reading me.

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So moving--and I am so with you. In our western culture grief is little spoken--and we are told not to let it show--too often. And yet, the pain goes on and on, as you express so well. Go here when you have time: https://www.maryltabor.com/2019/07/benjamin-hammerschlag-in-my-heart.html ~Love, Mary

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Hugs to you Mary! Beautiful poem and beautiful reading. ❤️

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Thank you dear Mary! Indeed. We honor ourselves when we honor our grief. Will read. Thanks for sharing.

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Dec 3, 2022Liked by Reena Kapoor

Beautiful.So soul stirring.U have a gift of the written word.Brought back fond memories of my mom too.

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Thanks dear Chaiti for reading my words and writing to tell me. Hugs !

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Dec 3, 2022Liked by Reena Kapoor

This is so beautiful Reena, thank you for sharing. I lost my Dad this year, and couldn't be there with him in his final moments. I'll have to live with that. He was my biggest cheerleader, and I feel finally like I need to grow up.

I definitely can relate to the loss and slow primal unraveling of my childhood home and country and how Life makes you move on even if you want to stand still.

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Thanks Radhika! Your words are so true and what I too relate to. Condolences for your loss. It’s certainly a new stage of life. Thanks for reading and writing to tell me.

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Dec 2, 2022Liked by Reena Kapoor

Very Nice Reena. This is always irreparable, no matter how we prepare. Such is life, very beautifully expressed.

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Indeed, Satinath. One hopes we learn to just hold the grief better. Thanks for reading and writing to me.

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“But life is deaf to our claims, playing its own music, demanding we dance its bidding.”

This has been the hardest part, I think, of losing my father-in-law. Life, as you say above, marches inexorably on, and it (and the other people involved in it) don’t have much of an attention span for others’ grief.

Thank you for sharing this, if only for the commiseration. ❤️

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Thanks Nicci for reading and hugs for your loss. In modern society we’re supposed to quickly grieve and then get on with it. Well, that doesn’t work for grief which follows its own course, and we just have to honor it. That’s why rituals were helpful that way. Glad it helped you ❤️

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Thank you so much - Listening to your reading really opened my heart, beautiful poem.

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Thank you so much Carol for listening and for that. So happy to hear it reached you.

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Dec 2, 2022Liked by Reena Kapoor

Very touching. Can relate to the picking of ashes. In Sikhs we call it “फूल चुकना”। That is when it hit me that my father had moved on. From dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

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Thank you Manbir! That's exactly right and it's called the same in Hindi -- translates to "picking flowers" which is a lovely metaphor. The ashes end up in the earth that sprouts flowers and much more. We are all after all star dust at some point. I had the privilege of doing that for both my parents and while really really hard, I feel a peace knowing I was there. Thank you for reading.

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"Stilled in death with instructions..." O, wow, that gave me the shivers.

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Yes death comes with instructions. Thanks for reading Sherman 🙏

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