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My Gran, as a young woman, and our letters to each other, collected over several years some time ago.
I kept hers, and only recently found that she also had kept mine. I was very touched to discover this.
It’s great to read our parallel stories over time, the years having passed.
I wanted to write the perfect words for the feeling, but no words would come.
I knew somehow that Maya Angelou might have found them..I was right..
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“When Great Trees Fall”
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.”
― Maya Angelou
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Settle and Chase 
Beautiful. x
You’ve caught the light so beautifully – these are so tender! I particularly like the third shot, where it almost tips over into abstraction.
Thanks Richard – it was a very tender experience to look through them, I wanted the light to feel how they felt somehow..
So beautiful, all of it, Cath…great images, hints, fragments, as you said…and wonderful words…reminds me of my father-in-law and the emptiness after his passing…. Thank you.
Oh I’m so touched to hear this Scott – I hope that you found the words comforting, I just thought they were so elegant, and so beautifully descriptive of the experience in many ways..it seemed to fit perfectly – I only wish I had written them myself!!
Yes, Cath…comforting and bittersweet…and it would be great to have penned such words, wouldn’t it? 🙂
I agree with Richard. Lovely essay…the third image is wonderful.
Thankyou John..
Really lovely – totally agree with Richard: a very tender series and the third image works really well! 🙂
Thanks so much Richard..
Just beautiful Cath – yup, the third image is my favourite too. A beautiful, brave, and altogether sensual exploration of love and longing and loss. The Maya Angelou is a very fine fit for these images, and both word and image remind me very much of the many contemplations I have had in looking at ephemera tied to my parents and grandparents. Thanks for this.
A lovely response, thankyou Sydney..
It’s difficult to find words, yours are so perfect.
These things mean so much.
Yes very tender and lovely. My favourite is the last one – the sliver of light, and the handwriting framing the photos.
A beautiful series of photographs! 🙂
perfect words for gorgeous images