The Poet's Room

St. Mary's Cemetery Richland Center, WI           A friend in distress called this morning.  Suicide had taken a family friend.  Suicide rates are up with the economic turmoil created by the Pandemic.  Last fall another friend lost a brother to suicide. Evidently his brother's failing business drove him over the edge. As someone who has experienced his own dark night of the soul I understand the pain and suffering that could lead to such a bleak conclusion. I feel lucky for I found help and learned to turn those feelings of shame, worthlessness and desperation over to The Power That Flows Through All Things. God is one of the  names frequently used for that power! Losses pummel us, soften us, open the door to the heart that can break from the sorrows of life yet heal in loving through those sorrows. Sorrow opens the door to greater compassion for others struggling.... when we recall what our desperation felt like. (To view the video with music and hear this blog read click on t