By Bernie Bell

The 25^th of May 2022 will be the 30^th Anniversary of my Mother’s passing from this life.  It’s hard to love someone so much, and lose them. 

After Mum died I experienced my first bout of deep depression. The doctor cautioned me to be aware that I would probably, around this time each year, have some kind of resurgence .

I thought it would wear off it time – and it hasn’t.  This poem expresses that perfectly.

I also read it as expressing the difference between loving life and those around us, and having a particular love for an individual person, and how hard it is to lose those individual people through either death or division.

But where would we be, and what would we be, if we’re not prepared to open ourselves to experience that kind of love in our lives?

And C. S. Lewis knew – he lost his Joy – and wrote the poem ‘Joys that Sting’.

Mother & Daughter, sharing a quiet moment.