A Widower's Weeds

A retired art therapist tells the story of his grieving process through diary entries and free form verse after his wife of fifty years unexpectedly suffers a stroke and dies. He struggles through the documented stages of grief that continually fade and flare up again and again over a three year period: shock, denial, guilt, fear, anger, depression and loneliness. During this time, his past religious upbringing begins to conflict with his professional, rational mindset when sensing his wife’s presence. Is he experiencing spiritual reality or psychological illusion, he questions? Following a Damascene-type experience in a church, he eventually arrives at the final stage of grief – acceptance and hope with a possible future.