Tag Archives: sickness

Coping with Pain

My mother fractured her pelvis this past week. This poem about pain helps me empathize.

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Clean Rooms, Despair of the Mind

Mary Oliver’s “University Hospital, Boston” captures my experience of having a friend in a hospital. Oliver understands the various ironies involved.

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Seeing the Beauty in an Invalid

As I sat by the hospital bed of a dear friend holding her hand, the well-known opening lines from Auden’s “Lullaby” came to mind:

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Let Me Not Love Thee If I Love Thee Not

George Herbert, never afraid to go toe-to-toe with God, grapples with his tormenting faith in “Affliction (1).”

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Women Who Refuse To Be Broken

There are certain poets who appear indomitable and, in their confident affirmations of life, inspire the rest of us. Lucille Clifton was one of these poets.

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On Sickness and the Power of Prayer

In “War and Peace” Tolstoy gives a powerful account of how prayer and church attendance can help in the recovery process.

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Lit Helps Father Support a Sick Child

Jason Blake found himself playing literary roles when his daughter underwent major surgery.

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