On Bereavement (The Black Hole)

Who is it for? Those who have lost a loved one

What’s the tone? Accepting and acknowledging the terrible hole but hopeful of a time when the pain may pass

When to use it? At a funeral. It could also be sent in a sympathy card.

I was thinking that losing someone you have loved very deeply must feel like being swallowed. I woke up one morning and turned on the radio. There was a news item about a new black hole that astronomers had discovered. This phenomenon sounded like it sucked everything in and held its breath. In the shock of death, very few of us feel anything except a massive void or vacuum.

So I wrote about that. But when I read it to my husband, he thought it was perhaps a little bleak and suggested that I offer a little hope to those struggling to comprehend what was happening to them. That’s when the last few lines came to me about space and time making peace.

Although this is a tough one to read in public, you could probably recite this poem at a funeral by focusing on the mourners and getting them to that last line of hope.