Compassion Magazine Winter 2022

Winter 2022 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 30 This morning the postwoman brought four more cards… That’s over 70 now Seventy cards from people telling me I’ve lost you These cards, all these lovely cards, are telling me you died What nonsense, James! have they gone mad? I read them like I'm a customer in a card shop Then put them up here and there, displaying the news Sometimes they make me cry Sometimes they make me angry, I rip one up, chuck it in the bin, get it out, stick it back together. Sometimes the love that pours out of them makes me smile They are telling me how sorry they are for my loss, how they don’t know what to say How the pain must be unimaginable How the wider community has wrapped its arms around us How there are no words but they are thinking about us, they are here for us and they hope in time we will find joy in our memories (I hate that bit, I don't want him to be a memory) Seventy cards telling me I have lost you that you will be forever in my heart He's always with you, they say. But you’re not. You’re nowhere to be seen. I keep asking Where are YOU? Where are you?