words from a note to a friend

I think of death as a form of shapeshifting,

a metamorphosis

that does not take from us

that which we love,

but transforms it into something intangible,

requiring we open our hearts

even further to experience it.

Comments

[kristen]

my first time commenting here...this is lovely and timely as an old friend of mine took his life a few weeks back and i've been trying to wrap my head around it all. thank you.

[lovely and imperfect]

oh kristen my heart goes out to you. sending you love...

[Martha]

and my dear friend is still in hospital after a suicide attempt . these words resonate - love. m

[alane]

this is so true. my sister was killed almost 6 years ago, & i feel i know her "better" in death than in life. maybe b/c mother's day is almost here, but i've been dreaming alot about her. in ways she seems more real to me; i "talk" to her in way that i couldn't before. it's heart opening

[keishua]

this made me pause. i lost my father many years ago and still feel a deep sense of loss from that. i still grapple with that energy.
p.s. your words are simply beautiful.

[Stephanie]

Jennifer~There is such substance, beauty, and truth here. You are shining a beacon of light where there was darkness. xoxo

[lovely and imperfect]

martha: i'm thinking of you and sending love.

alane: thank you for sharing this ~dreams often surprise me with their power for healing.

keishua: i still grapple with that energy too.

stephanie: thank you, i'm blessed by your friendship.

[Suzanne Williams]

This is amazing. I just wrote a blog a couple of days ago about how scared I am to lose anymore in my life. I'm so worried of death to people I care about. This makes it an easier way to look at things. Still so difficult to not have the physical being there, but such a great way to look at it.
Thanks!
Suzanne

[Elizabeth]

Oh. Yes. This is such a beautiful way of thinking about it. I imagine that when Atlas leaves me, he will break my heart, but instead of breaking and shattering, it will break open.

Someone was telling me about a Buddhist metaphor about death and impermanence and how the clouds transform into rain which transform into snow on the mountain tops which transform into melting snow which transforms into the water in a river. How the river is the clouds, only in another form, and how everything changes form when the time comes for it to do so.

[lovely and imperfect]

suzanne: thank you. i know how that fear of loss can rattle...

elizabeth: thank you for sharing this metaphor here, it resonates and soothes. breaking open, yes.

[michelle e.]

mmmmm...thank you for sharing...those are such beautiful, wise words...

[Martha]

I just keep coming back to see the most beautiful picture of tulips I believe I have ever seen .....M

[lovely and imperfect]

thanks martha and michelle. :)

[Amy]

So fraught with truth. Your words are so fraught with truth. This is the way of everything. As I watch my children grow from babies to toddlers to boys to adolescents I see this constant shape shifting. Where the beings I have grown to know change so quickly that I cannot keep up and I am getting to know them anew all the time.

I have this dream of one day creating a cemetery where your remains can be buried under the roots of a new tree and your loved ones can come and visit you and sit under your shade as your life continues in another tangible form.

But in all their tangible guises our spirits are terribly elusive.