There isn't much that helps when stricken with sorrow. There really isn't. So all I can offer, besides love and prayers, to a dear friend thousands of miles away on the beautiful island of Crete while her heart is so heavy for the horrible loss of innocent lives in Greece are some words from Rumer Godden that have given me some light at the end of the tunnel when my heart has been heavy with sorrow. Not at first, when little light gets in, but as time goes by. Even when one is stricken, much remains; often creature things: drinking good tea from a thin porcelain cup; hot baths...the sound of a stream can be consolation, thinks Mrs. Quin, or the shape of a tree; even stricken, she can enjoy those. To hold a skeleton leaf, see its structure, can safely lift one away from grief for a moment...sunrises help, she thinks, though sunsets are dangerous, and moon and stars; they stir too much. Shells are safe, and birds and most little animals, kittens or foals especially, for they are not sentimental.... I have been happy in food, Mrs. Quin is able to say. How ridiculous to find consolation in food, but it is true and when one is taking those first steps back, bruised and wounded, one can read certain books: Hans Andersen, and the Psalms, Jane Austen, a few other novels. Helped by those things, life reasserts itself, as it must, even when one knows one will be stricken again. Rumer Godden China Court We can help so little when others are hurting, and there is so little that others can do to help us. I send love and prayers and a listening ear and hopes that the simple creature comforts around you will ease your heart. As time goes by.
