Words to Live By
Reader's Digest US|March/April 2024
Poems offered me an anchor as I lost my son, so I shared them
Josie Glausiusz
Words to Live By

In the early hours of March 23, 2023, about 12 hours before our treasured 12-year-old son died from a rare form of brain cancer, I climbed into his bed at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, wrapped him in my arms and recited the poem "Jabberwocky":

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe..."

My child was no longer conscious, but I hoped and believed that he could sense my presence, and that my voice would comfort him and soothe his furiously beating heart.

My son had learned the words to Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem by listening to me recite it to him and his twin sister at bedtime. A brave, bright, imaginative, optimistic boy, he loved the drama of the poem and the courage of the "beamish boy" as, with his "vorpal sword" in hand, he defeats his "manxome foe." My son was also a passionate reader.

But toward the end of a year punctured by surgeries, rounds of radiation, hospitalizations and medications, it was harder for him to focus. Instead, I would sit beside his hospital bed and read aloud to him, mostly Richmal Crompton's Just William stories.

One evening in the hospital in mid-February, I read him some of my favorite poems-poems that my mother had read to me as a child. "Cargoes" by John Masefield ("Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir / Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine") and a Shakespeare sonnet ("When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes").

He listened, rapt and smiling. Then we talked about the meaning of the poems.

A few days later, I started my own poetry group on WhatsApp, calling it Poetry Is Medicine, and invited friends to join. I had found, during earlier crises, that the rhythm of poetry can soothe my anxieties. With just a word or a phrase, a poem can reach the hidden places that prayers or well-meaning advice cannot. 

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March/April 2024 من Reader's Digest US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March/April 2024 من Reader's Digest US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من READER'S DIGEST US مشاهدة الكل
Cookies for Forgiveness
Reader's Digest US

Cookies for Forgiveness

My blowup was half-baked. The apology wasn't

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
Puff the Magic Pastry
Reader's Digest US

Puff the Magic Pastry

It always rises to the occasion

time-read
2 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
New Year's Traditions Around the World
Reader's Digest US

New Year's Traditions Around the World

1 MOST OF US spend the final seconds of each calendar year watching a nearly 12,000-pound geodesic sphere descend over Times Square in New York City.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
Mom's Wall-Sign Wisdom
Reader's Digest US

Mom's Wall-Sign Wisdom

She never met a plaque or bumper sticker she didn't quote

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
Protect Your 'Holiday Heart'
Reader's Digest US

Protect Your 'Holiday Heart'

This joyful time of year can also be dangerously stressful

time-read
3 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
Heroes of the Holidays
Reader's Digest US

Heroes of the Holidays

It's not just Santa Claus bringing the holiday magic this season. As you'll see, he's got elves all over.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
The Man Who Looks After His Wife's Ex
Reader's Digest US

The Man Who Looks After His Wife's Ex

For him and his bride, \"in sickness and in health\" meant something really special

time-read
8 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
How Risky Are Those Holiday Cocktails, Really?
Reader's Digest US

How Risky Are Those Holiday Cocktails, Really?

The latest recommendations about drinking and your health

time-read
7 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
HOW ONE KENTUCKY TOWN SAVED ITSELF
Reader's Digest US

HOW ONE KENTUCKY TOWN SAVED ITSELF

Downtown Hazard had lost its small-town mojo to drugs. Former addicts are helping to bring it back.

time-read
8 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025
Dream It, Do It, Done!
Reader's Digest US

Dream It, Do It, Done!

Your bucket-list goals, accomplished

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2024/January 2025