Onyx
Eco Sterling Silver and Copper
 
‘Why shun darkness? The night abounds with diamond drops’.
- Forugh Farrokhzad
 
Like the darkness of night, we can often pre-emptively fear the harder periods of our lives; the losses, the grief and the heartache. We imagine a pain we cannot bear, we forget the gifts and beauty contained within those moments of suffering; the periods of perfect presence, the deep caverns of emotion, the transcendental experiences of connection with others.
 
Times of ease can bring a sense of complacency, the world becomes ordinary and expected; it loses its magic. Grief brings us painfully back into the present, the prospect of losing what we love brings a visceral awareness of all that we have had. The depth of our love is made evident by its absence.
 
Yesterday, as I walked the streets of London in reverie, lost in thought, memory and imagining, I was met by the eyes of a lady raising money for charity. I welcomed the moment of connection amongst the cacophony of the city streets. She met my eye and told me her story and in turn, I told her mine. A mere summary, but enough to bring a tear to my eye. 
 
In these moments of vulnerability, we are truly able to connect and be seen. The walls of social convention fracture, allowing shards of truth and love to shine through their façade. We are allowed to feel again.
 
This is the gift of grief. It is not an encounter we would choose but it is one that leaves us with unimagined depths and in all its heart-wrenching pain we are presented with the opportunity to reconnect: to ourselves, to those we have loved and to the joys and sorrows of every human soul walking the path beside us on those city streets.