*This art piece along with others can be viewed in the Gallery selection in the Menu up top.

I’ve written a few times about what it’s like to lose loved ones while incarcerated: In Grieving In Fast Forward, Ryleigh Payne–An Angel Returns Home and in It Is What It Is. I’ve witnessed guys lose bothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and even daughters or sons. As if this couldn’t get any worse, I’ve known men who’ve lost the very last person in their life, left alone to drift in the world with no contact on the outside and no one to turn to. I’ve comforted so many of my peers during these moments that my own family’s mortality frequently weighs on my mind.

Today’s essay is by a new guest writer “C.H.” He writes about what it was like for him to lose his grandmother and then his mother while incarcerated. In his essay you’ll discover how loss and grief have impacted him—from sadness and confusion to understanding and growth. Today he shares his thoughts with you here.

From the well of grief we either drown or emerge strengthened and wiser.

There’s a beautiful poem by David Whyte, called “The Well of Grief,” and it captures beautifully our moment of loss. With what is happening in the world right now, perhaps we all should take a moment to read it and reflect:

The Well of Grief
David Whyte

Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief,

turning down through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe,

will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,

nor find in the darkness glimmering,

the small round coins,
thrown by those who wished for something else.

—Christopher—

*Help your friends and neighbors as we all cope with this global crisis. Through community we will make it through together.

**You can read the WIRED article mentioned in C.H.’s essay here.