A Message from Mr. Sedd

As you have noticed, Mrs. Sedd hasn’t written her blog for several months. Her absence was occasioned by her loss of both parents, within less than two months of each other. She has let me, Mr.Sedd, use this space to express gratitude for those who have thought of her and to offer some of my own thoughts on loss.

My own parents passed away several years ago. I had my own time of sadness, and would like to share something that gives me comfort – a way to accept those events that are unacceptable, but true nonetheless.  It comes from Gustav Mahler, an Austrian composer, whose Resurrection Symphony draws from German folk songs to narrate the journeys taken by our dear departed loved ones.

In the symphony, the departing sings:

“There I came upon a broad path when came a little angel and wanted to turn me away.

Ah no! I would not let myself be turned away!

I am from God and shall return to God!

The loving God will grant me a little light,

Which will light me into that eternal blissful life!

…

With wings which I have won for myself,

in love’s fierce striving,

I soar upwards, to the light which no eye has penetrated!

Its wing that I won is expanded, and I fly up.

Die shall I in order to live.

Rise again, yes, rise again, will you, my heart, in an instant!

That for which you suffered,

To God will it lead you!

 

For believers, there is great comfort in the ideas of God and of resurrection. I also think there is wisdom and peace in accepting that these journeys belong to the ones we have lost. Even though we, as the ‘little angels’, desperately want to turn them away from their paths – to keep them present – we cannot, and anyway, they are too determined to let us.

Also, as the lyrics say, “with wings which I have won for myself, in love’s fierce striving…” I’ve come to a new appreciation for those I have lost. Their lives have new meaning to me. I see, daily, what their love accomplished. I am grateful.

Mrs. Sedd will return to her blog when the time is right. Meanwhile, I thank her for sharing her space with me, and wish all who have suffered loss, peace.