He stared at her face but found it bare
Not a trace of love remembered there
Their kids looked on in solemn silence
Shocked at mommy's frozen defiance
Daddy's hands shook as he took off the ring
It had once meant forever; now - not a thing
Their little girl begged "I want you to stay!"
But it fell on deaf ears
They slowly carried
her body
away.
When my husband's father died a few years back I recall him telling me the one
person who really touched him during the funeral didn't say a word. They just put
their hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, then hugged him tightly.
My husband said that he could tell from that look that this person knew what he
was going through and had been there. Nothing needed to be said. The hug was
all the support he could give and meant more than a thousand words could express
I seem to recall reading (Ann Landers?) that instead of asking if there was anything
you could do you should just call this person after a couple days and ask if they
would like company or just to talk. If you do visit them you could bring over food,
ask what errands need to be done, see if any help is needed in any way and just do
it. Saying "If there is anything I can do." is nice, but chances are the bereaved will
consider it a politeness and shy away from asking for help. If you really want to
help you might do better to be more assertive.
