Compassion Autumn Winter 2023

22 tcf.org.uk Your Stories & Poems Thank you to all those have shared with us your stories and poems honouring and remembering your precious children. Like a perpetual Clouseau and Kato scene, waiting for the ‘surprise’ attack, Only, it’s not funny. It comes creeping like a Ninja, And it hits like a wave. All consuming, no escape. I’ll call it Anger – to give it a name, but that feels inadequate. I don’t see myself as an angry person, When the Anger Ninjas strike, I’m terrified, Fight, Flight or Freeze? My legs and mind choose different options, I’m somehow achieving all three at once. I’ve been mugged, assaulted. Turned upside down, all that I am, falling from my pockets onto the floor and bouncing away down the pavement. I’m exposed and empty. Why am I angry? I’ve been here before, of course, the impossible circular reasoning that comes with suicide. I’m Angry that you’re gone, I’m Angry that you’ve shredded my life without permission, I’m Angry to admit, that life wasn’t as perfect as I pretend, and I didn’t do enough to change, I’m Angry for all the things I said, didn’t say, did, didn’t do, I’m Angry with Anger at someone I love, I’m Angry that I’ll never know…. I’m Angry that I have all this love for you, and I’ll never see you again. Anger by Andy Pritchard COMPASSION | YOUR STORIES & POEMS