Jane Wallman-Girdlestone

Loss and grief affects us in many contrasting ways.  In this anthology Jane brings together not only her thoughts on loss but also attempts to articulate the experiences of those she has met as a priest and chaplain.

Chasing Rainbows: Poetry for Grief and Loss was published on Kindle in 2015.

Jane writes:

We experience little deaths almost on a daily basis.  A disappointment at work, a friend who doesn’t return a text.  We share our deeper sense of loss. loneliness and despair too, when a partner dies, or a child is born disabled or a friend walks away.  This is a poem that I wrote several months ago, but still means a great deal to me:

Wanted

Jane Wallman-Girdlestone

 

She left in nervous haste,

Lifting her skirt high,

Tucking it into her knickers,

Stamping the grass and gritty stones out

From between her sandaled toes,

All the better to sprint like an Olympian.

Pa was calling,

Whispering on the wind,

Searching out the final leaves,

Insistent, like the rumour of distant thunder;

She was sure it was him.

Only he

Could make her name

Sound like the guttural growl of a raven

Protecting her young.

Turning from her box,

She scooped her toys into her play rag

Hers since a baby in arms,

And scuttled beyond the garden, and through the open gate.

Something was wrong.

There was nothing right

In the stillness of the breeze exhausted.

The lengthening shadows welcomed the night.

There was no car;

No leap towards her;

No warm, engulfing embrace.

He was not home.

Abandoned.