a formal feeling comes--
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions--was it He that bore?
And yesterday--or centuries before?

The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.

This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow--
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.

Emily Dickinson
Lilypie Angel and Memorial tickers

Friday, September 03, 2010

Forgetting/Forgiving

The other night at my husbands art opening we were talking with a friend who had a baby a week before we lost Milos. He was talking about his daughter and as he was talking I was trying to remember how old she was and then I was struck with silent horror that I had forgotten that she was Milos' age! Why hadn't that struck me immediately? I can only hope I am letting go of the resentment I felt towards every friend who had a baby that year we lost our first son and not that I am forgetting Milos.
Never.