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.
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