We remember them

I wanted to share with you a poem that I find comforting. It does not make promises or speak of better places as so many of these things do and which I find empty and of little solace. Instead it addresses what I think of as the essential core of what it means to lose someone one loves.

Photo by Alexander Burdin a Russian colleague of mine

"In the rising of the sun and in its going down,

we remember them.
In the glowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,

we remember them.
In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring,

we remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer,

we remember them.
In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn,

we remember them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends,

we remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,

we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart,

we remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share,

we remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us,
as we remember them." *

— Jewish prayer, from the Rabbi’s Manual 1998

*Please note that I am not a member of the faith from which this comes from and I take it in my own context separate from which it may be originally intended.