When old traditions take on new meaning …

"... I think I understand 
why wild animals hesitate 
when they are released
back into the wild 
what has been is known 
and what is known feels safe ..."

This week’s poem is a complicated one to categorise by year. It was first written in 2016, soon after the death of my best friend, but I’ve recently reworked it.  Funny how a poem that once felt finished can be reborn.  I suppose it’s a fitting reflection on how grief works.  It is never still and never truly leaves you.  It evolves.  

The title of the earlier version of this poem was Easter Saturday.  I was later advised by a good friend, that I was mistaking Easter Saturday, (which is the first Saturday after Easter), with Holy Saturday, (which is the last day of Holy Week).  It was on Holy Saturday 2016 when the earlier poem was written, on that mourning day between the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It was always a quiet, meditative day in the Catholic world of my childhood.  Holy has become an uncomfortable word for me, although it does appear in the poem.  According to Wikipedia, another name for Holy Saturday is Easter Eve.  I prefer that; like Christmas Eve, it feels anticipatory. 

It’s safe to say, I think, that we’ve all experienced significant endings in our lives.  Be that the death of someone you loved, or perhaps a bereavement or closure of another kind.  You might have felt a sense of loss when a job has come to an end, a study course or a great holiday.  Perhaps you’ve experienced an empty nest when your child has gone off to university or on a gap year (don’t worry … they’ll probably be back!).  I’m told that many people feel an aching loss when they retire (not my own experience!).  Whatever it is or has been, it’s often hard to let go and move on.  Depending on the nature of your loss, you may feel you never can.  Life doesn’t return to normal following a bereavement, for example, but it eventually shifts, continuing in a different way.    

It’s sometimes tempting to stay in your version of Easter Eve, whatever it may be.  Queen Victoria famously never stopped mourning the death of Prince Albert, withdrawing from public life for over a decade.  There’s that poignant scene in the film Hamnet, when Agnes lingers in the home she must vacate for a new house in Stratford.  It is the place, of course, where her young son died.   It’s a silent scene because words are unnecessary.  Everyone can surely sense and understand her reluctance to leave.  

There are moments in life when we wish time would stop.  It most often happens to me when I’m experiencing something joyous, such as hiking recently with my cousin.  I didn’t want the day to end; instead I wanted to cling onto that sense of being on top of a mountain with someone who had known me all my life.  But it can also happen when experiencing a huge sadness; the feelings are so raw and deeply personal, you need time to sit with them.  You want to feel the full force of that sadness, because it’s where you feel deeply connected to your loved one (or other experience).  It somehow feels trivial to deal with everything else.  Suddenly, your daily routines feel mundane and perhaps even meaningless.  

That’s how I felt after that loss in 2016.  Eventually, I gave myself a talking to, using language I’d never adopt with a friend.  I told myself to pull myself together and stop wallowing in self pity.  Harsh words.  I wouldn’t talk to myself that way now.  

Looking back, I can empathise with both sides of how I was feeling.  I wanted to stay in my place of sadness, where I still felt connected to Karen, but at the same time, I knew I had to reconnect to the present, and to my life.  It’s not an easy path to navigate and, on reflection, I appreciate the idea of Easter Eve.  It creates a bridge between loss and new life, in whatever forms they take.  I respect and value that.  

It’s important to recognise when we need that time to wallow, but also to know we don’t have to stay there forever.  We can cross the bridge and live life to the full whenever we’re ready.  I wish you a Happy Easter, whatever side of that bridge you’re on right now.