Grieving My Soul to Life

About the Book

This book of poetry is from my heart. These words came out of a place so deep within me that it sustained my life when I wanted to die too as I watched my son's life slip away. The story of this dying process comes from my perspective. It's the best I can give you. My son, Thomas, had to endure the pain and suffering of cancer and an amputation that could never heal plus the fear and dread of leaving a wife and young child, which is a sorrow I cannot even imagine for such a tender loving man and devoted father. The story poured out of my heart through my fingertips and onto the page as the great river of grief flowed through me. Allowing it, so I later learned, is what awakened in me the ancient force I was longing to reconnect to, but had forgotten how... my soul.

I wrote these poems for myself, it was how I survived the grief of my son's death. Now I want to share my son's story, his love, my love, the love that runs through us and is us. May the thread of connectedness be revealed so that in hearing our story, you may take courage when the time comes and really give yourself permission to be present and truly show up!!! In the end the only thing that really matters is love.

Through poetry I have woven a web of connectedness, a bridge into the shared heart of a mother and her dying son. The way is lighted for you, but your experience will be your own. you will learn what there is for you to learn. There are no words to describe some things and poetry is such a beautiful way to give these "no words" expression. The deepest experience is awarded those who can read between the lines. I encourage you to read aloud those passages that bring tears to your eyes or a lump in your throat. You do me honor which I pass on to my son. These words came from a place so deep within that it sustained me when I wanted to die in sympathy as I watched the life force slip away from my son's wasting body. Through grief I encountered my soul ... and re-awakened to my soul journey.

About the Author

Joan is a mother and grandmother who birthed her 4 sons at home with the help of midwives and 27 years later became a midwife for her eldest son's death at home, reclaiming the natural cycle of birth and death. She used the healing form of writing poetry to process the grief and emotions she experienced during her son's illness and death.