The Uses of Sorrow | Mary Oliver
(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.
Five years ago I lost a close friend in a tragic car accident. She was in a dark place at the time. She had lost her job, lost her home and was in a desperate situation. The morning she died, she called me from the side of a road somewhere in Sacramento and we made a plan for her to come and stay with me. A few hours later she crashed into the median on the Interstate 5 half way between where she came from and where she was going.
Suddenly I was in the underworld of deep grief and it felt, at times, like I’d stay there forever. But of course, that’s never how the story ends…it’s how it begins.
This short film is a little window into a journey of soul that’s hard to express with words. It’s a celebration of the angels that saved me, the women and artists who inspired me and the beautiful mystery of faith that I found a long the way.
It begins with the last text messages I shared with Nina before she died. Followed by a song about the messages and memories she left behind. It is an attempt to understand the high contrast of her life, the darkness I’ll never know and the light she still shines in my life.
It’s taken a long time to finish this film but it feels like just the right time to let it go.
I give it here to you here. I hope you enjoy.