Writing from the Heart

Tonight was my third writer's guild meeting and I'm glad I went. There was quite a bit of news and we did a writing exercise on writing from the heart. To be more specific, the exercise was to be on grief. We were to write something about a person or a pet that had passed on.

I have had many stories published that were based on life experiences, including grief. Writing from the heart is the easiest form of writing for me because I have lived, breathed and felt it. We had twenty minutes to do the exercise. This is what I wrote:

An Ode to Aunt May

We talked, we laughed, we were always close.

We shared good times and bad,

We held each other up

When we faced difficult times.

Then...breast cancer

You were diagnosed.

Every woman's fear and I feared for your well being

After surgery, the doctors said it was beaten.

Two years later...excruiciating pain and they said sciatica,

You knew they were wrong, but they wouldn't listen.

It was bone cancer...stage four by the time they found it...

A trying time for everyone concerned.

Throughout your ordeal for the next two years,

We talked of life, things you'd experienced

Your childhood

Happy times of long ago.

We talked of death

How we felt about it...

What we believed...

What we had been taught.

One day you said to me,

"I wish it was over."

I told you that it was your choice...

That you had suffered enough.

The next day, you were admitted

To Pallitive Care.

I fed you your last spoonful of food

And gave you your last sip of water.

Everyday for ten days,

I visited you, talked to you.

Your only reponse

Was to open your eyes occassionally.

I held your hand

And you knew I was there.

Then finally, it was over,

You slipped away and went Home.

This week you would have turned seventy-six.

I thought of you and wished it could have been different.

I remembered...you haven't been forgotten.

I will remember you with love throughout eternity.

And as long as you are remembered,

Your spirit will never die.

The exercise was done by all the writers present and about half of us read them. All the stories and poems brought tears from many of the members of the group, but it was one that was necessary. It was our way of celebrating Holy Week with a tribute to a loved one who had passed. ~Blessings, Mary~