She lost a her mother, her father, her husband, and her son. She knows what grief is. You are not alone.

You remember
That they did not turn you out after the angel visited.
You remember
He did not walk away when you were with child.
You remember
how well he spoke, and how proud you were, and how worried you were.
And now they are all memories, love to be remembered,
but not held, not heard.
Oh, such loss.

 

About Mary’s creation:

I began working on Mary when I realized my own father was failing and I began the long journey of grief.  It is a journey I have traveled with others as well, and know the blandness of life when sorrow takes over, which I tried to convey in the simple colors of black and gray, punctuated with red, the way the stab of grief occasionally finds its mark.  Mary’s heart is broken,and her hands cross over the place that now feels empty.  Sometimes the only solace we find in grief is knowing that we are not alone, that others grieve alongside us.