Angel of Sadness

She extends her hand.
Stone, I am.
Stone.

Sadness says,
“You will fall.
I will be with you.
You will break.
I will take the pieces
and turn them into gold.
You will wail an ocean.
I will teach you to swim.
You won’t know who you are.
I will walk beside you
as you shed the skins
you never were.”

---

Questions for Contemplation

In the first stanza of this poem there is resistance to connecting to sadness. What is your relationship to sadness? How do you typically respond when you begin to feel sad about anything, eg., a loss, a difficult conversation, a friend’s hardship, a family struggle, the challenges of these times?

Relax, close your eyes and imagine that you are in a conversation with sadness, represented by a symbol such as a broken heart or dark cloud. Ask what it wants to say to you about a situation in your life that is evoking sadness. You can also engage further with the symbol and ask any other questions that are meaningful to you.

---