A prompt to write - a sign for all of us

For  the last few weeks, J-35 has been carrying her dead calf around the Salish Sea, displaying her grief and her love.

16 Days of Grief

         In honour of J-35

You gave her life and

then she died.

You held her up

for all to see,

to see your pain,

to know you cared,

to show that grief is not limited

to human beings

watching young children shot at their school

through no fault of their own

or young soldiers slaughtered on far-away fields,

fighting in an elusive war

thousands of miles away.

Your grief is as plain as the nose of my face.

Your grief is as true as the love I feel for my daughters who live.

Your grief is an open wound to the world who’s forgotten

that grief is a necessary aspect of life and

to ignore it is

to ignore breathing.

© Catherine Woods 2018