A Place For Grief To Rest
From the Brattleboro Area Hospice 2015 Annual Report
When Hallowell sings in a room where someone is dying, grief is likely to show up. We have described our singing as “a place for grief to rest.” But what do we mean by these words? What does it mean to “give grief a place to rest?” Grief is not a thing with a shape and form you can hold in your hands or lay down on a bed and cover with a blanket. It changes shape. It changes color and strength. It moves in with certain smells or light, with words or melodies, and fills a room with its presence. And though it is not a physical thing we can pick up or put down, we all know that we do, somehow, carry it—in our hearts, on our shoulders, in our spirits, throughout our lives. We know “the weight of grief,” and the heaviness that accompanies it. We also know the lightness that can follow the expression and release of it. It is a constant companion beside us as we walk through our life. No one on this earth does not make its acquaintance at some time.