"The Well of Grief"

            At our church women’s book group the other night, my friend, Carri proposed a night of poetry. She handed round some books to peruse. I picked up Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation by Roger Housden and opened where a tiny sliver of colored paper marked the page. What I read took my breath away. At home I searched for it online.

My favorite YouTube version of "The Well of Grief" by David Whyte is a still picture of a brick-lined well, flush to the ground, the words in a white font scrolling up the photo and a short excerpt from Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. How can I describe this piece of music? Set aside eleven minutes to watch Leonard Slatkin conducting the BBC Orchestra in the Adagio on September 15, 2001, in honor of those who died four days earlier. Barber expresses the depth of human emotion far better than any words I know how to use. Listen with an open heart and experience its haunting beauty for yourself.

Years ago I played in the viola section of the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra. While we were rehearsing Barber’s Adagio, my stand partner told me that it had played on television during the reporting of John F. Kennedy’s funeral. And now I listen to it and feel the grief for my son.

What music speaks to your soul?