By MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN
Children’s Defense Fund
Every day my very beautiful, brilliant and much beloved mixed-race African friend, Maria Nhambu – who was placed in a Tanzanian orphanage in her first week of life – feeds my spirit. She is a daily trove of shared wisdom and loving support. She recently shared a poem by Heather Plett, which profoundly spoke to me during this pandemic and turbulent political time. I hope it will move you too.
Today I will greet Grief
When it comes:
I will meet it at the door,
I will say “Come in, old friend.
Take off your shoes.
Settle into this comfortable chair.
Make yourself at home
In this messy, humble space.”
I will pour tea for Grief
And I will sit with it,
Sipping slowly as we
Stare out the window at the passing clouds.
I will listen to the
Hard stories of loss
Grief wants to tell.
I will breathe deeply into the ache
Grief lays before me.
I won’t say much
Grief doesn’t ask for many words.
I will mostly sit in silence
And I will let the tears flow
When Grief nudges the
Tender places in me.
When Grief is finished speaking,
I may invite Grief
To come to the canvas with me
To feel the ooze of paint
Between our fingers.
I may also invite Grief
To walk by the river with me
So that we can watch
The water flow past.
I won’t ask Grief to leave,
But when Grief is ready to go,
I will open the door and bid farewell.
Then I will put away the teacup,
Clean the paint off my hands,
And carry on.
– By Heather Plett
In these times, we must all hold on to hope and have faith that we can and will overcome whatever faces us today and continue to build a hopeful tomorrow for ourselves and our children.
Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund whose mission is Leave No Child Behind. For more information, visit http://www.childrensdefense.org.
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