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Hope in Dark Places
Poems about Depression and the Christian
ā David Grieve ā
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Sacristy Press
PO Box 612, Durham, DH1 9HT
www.sacristy.co.uk
First published in 2017 by Sacristy Press, Durham
Copyright Ā© David Grieve 2017
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, documentary, film or in any other format without prior written permission of the publisher.
Bible extracts, unless otherwise stated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The extract from Philip Larkinās poem āHeads in the Womenās Wardā in Collected Poems (1988) is reproduced by kind permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher would be glad to hear from them.
Sacristy Limited, registered in England & Wales, number 7565667
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library
Kindle: ISBN 978-1-910519-68-4
ePub: ISBN 978-1-910519-69-1
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Contents
Foreword
Preface
Anagrams
Candle
Comfort
Confirmation
Every So Often it Must be Spoken Of
Faith in Disorder
February
Feeling Better Again
God of Our Silent Tears
Head Lifter
Hope in Dark Places
How To Be, Depressed.
I Fear, Itās Jesus
Living Free
Marbles
May I Stress?
Moments of Clarity
Not Now But Later
Old Testament Lesson
On Reading Philip Larkin on Deathās Approach in Old Age
One of These Days
Out of Darkness
Reaching Out
So Well, So Much
Saying It Again
The Bush is Still Burning
That Deeper Darkness
Therapy
When I Write I Live
Your Spirit
Epilogue
Resources for further help
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To all with mental health illnesses
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Foreword
Depression is both an experience that everyone has hadāa passing lowering of moodāand also a common mental disorder (or illness). Simply speaking, depression is considered to be an illness when it lasts a long time, or becomes bad enough to interfere with everyday life. One in five people suffer from this kind of depression at some point in their lives. One in five people therefore know first hand what itās like to be depressedāand the rest of us will all know someone who has been depressed. Yet, depression remains widely misunderstood, not least amongst Christians.
A part of the problem is that we do all know what itās like to be low in mood. Much as we donāt like such experiences, they usually pass. We therefore think that they should pass for other people too. But, what happens when they donāt? Itās all too easy to be unsympathetic, to imagine that we āknow what itās likeā or to offer trite solutions for ālooking on the bright sideā. The reality is that we usually donāt know what itās likeāespecially in the case of the more extreme forms that depression can takeāand that simple solutions donāt work. If they did, there wouldnāt be a problem!
A complex conjunction of altered neurochemistry, adverse life events, altered patterns of thinking, and social alienation, the darkness of depression is rarely dispelled by the candles of well meaning words tha...
