The Elephant in the room: There’s an... - Bereavement Care ...

Bereavement Care & Share

901 members1,571 posts

The Elephant in the room

chloe40 profile image
chloe40Administrator
1 Reply

There’s an elephant in the room.

It is large and squatting,

so it is hard to get around it.

Yet we squeeze by with,

“How are you?” and, “I’m fine,”

and a thousand other forms of trivial chatter.

We talk about the weather;

we talk about work;

we talk about everything else—

except the elephant in the room.

There’s an elephant in the room.

We all know it is there.

We are thinking about the elephant

as we talk together.

It is constantly on our minds.

For, you see, it is a very big elephant.

It has hurt us all, but we do not talk about

the elephant in the room.

Oh, please, say her name.

Oh, please, say “Barbara” again.

Oh, please, let’s talk about

the elephant in the room.

For if we talk about her death,

perhaps we can talk about her life.

Can I say, “Barbara” to you

and not have you look away?

For if I cannot,

then you are leaving me alone

in a room—with an elephant.

~ Terry Kettering

Written by
chloe40 profile image
chloe40
Administrator
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
1 Reply
Greyone profile image
Greyone

How about "The Emperor's New Clothes" for an encore. You're reminding me of that nice lady Felicity Kendle you know. Wasn't she very good with that chap with the odd hair cut ?

Reminds me of the time we were studying Of Mice And Men in English and the teacher asked us for comments on a section of text about Crooks. After about ten minutes, the teacher said "Has any one noticed he's black?"

Not what you're looking for?

You may also like...

Feel like my mom would not be proud of me if she was alive

I (21F) lost my mom at the age of 10 to heart failure. The day before she died we went to go see...
tm23l profile image

Just had the most amazing reminder that my dads still here in spirit.

Myself and my sis went to see if my paperweight was ready, oh my goodness it is BEAUTIFUL, its...
Loulouella profile image

The frost in the trees 🌲

Good morning everyone, Here's a photo of tree frost I took this the other morning, I walked down my...

What a great website, so helpful for me to find others and how they are coping

I don't know if my last post got through but I have to say how grateful I am in the last 24 hours...
Greybags profile image

How did you say Goodbye to your loved

I'm really interested in the different ways we manage to say good bye to our dear loved ones. I...
chloe40 profile image
Administrator

Moderation team

chloe40 profile image
chloe40Administrator

Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.

Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.