“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.” – Oscar Wilde
 |
Today, I sit with my pointy sticks, taking stitch after stitch – the clicking is a blessed distraction and activity. And I think of Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, and hope she will once again comfort me and bring my soul to the point of song. It was episode 21, Secret Water, of Brenda Dayne’s podcast last year that helped me so much when we experienced the prior adoption loss and today I am grateful I already knew about it. Perhaps one day soon I can sing this hymn and mean it:
HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING
My life flows on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the real, thought far off hymn
That hails the new creation
Above the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
What through the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What through the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?
Boyd, it’s heartening to hear that you are already working on healing. My own heart has been breaking for you and Harald and the loss you are suffering. I only wish there was more that I could do for you than simply sending you my thoughts and prayers.
I love that song. Do you remember that we sang it as we exited the church folowing Paul’s funeral?
I, too, love that song. And the first thing I thought when I saw your message was, like Margret, that we sang that song as a recessional at Paul’s funeral. And the second thing I thought was that Neil and I gave the words of that song, in a framed calligraphy, to Margret and David for their wedding. Words of sorrow, words of renewal, words of healing.