I was ravenous for my child and took to gorging myself in the boneyard, hoping that she might possibly meet me halfway, or just beyond, one night, if only for an instant—step back into her own bare feet, onto the wet grass or fallen leaves or snowy ground of the living Enon, so that we could share just one last human word.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep longing for connection with a lost child.
In this poignant quote, Paul Harding captures the intense yearning of a parent for their deceased child, illustrating the desire for one final communion in the physical world. The imagery of the 'boneyard' and 'wet grass' evokes the contrast between life and death, highlighting the emotional struggle of grief and the hope for a fleeting moment of reunion.
In practice
This quote would be impactful during a remembrance ceremony for a lost child.
And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.
There is my father whispering in my ear, Be still still still. And yet you change everything. What was the marsh like, waiting for the storm before you came and kneeled in the water? It was nothing. Watch after you leave the water, now cold and regretful, miles from home, certain of the belt on your backside, the cold shoulder, the extra chores; watch. Watch the water heal itself of your presence--not to repair injury but to offer itself again should you care to risk another strapping [...].
I just sit there and make up songs and sing to [my son] in gibberish. I'm very good at gibberish now.
I always like to see enlightened parents like that; it gives me hope for the future.
When I go back to the core of my childhood, my cousin Lucy seems always to be in the peripheral vision of my memories. She is off to one side, always off to one side, with a book, with a scheme or a project or an enterprise.
Parents learn the uses of power and its limits. They can insist on certain outward behavior but cannot change inner attitudes. They can require obedience but not goodness - and certainly not love.
This was when I heard that the first symptom of old age is when you begin to resemble your father.
The horrors of war, pale beside the loss of a mother
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