Hello and welcome to another episode in the summer series of Poems for the Speed of Life.

If this is your first time listening to the show, welcome. My name is Shane Breslin and I really hope this podcast meets and exceeds your expectations.

Poems for the Speed of Life is, for most of the year, a Monday to Friday podcast, where I introduce and read one poem that, I think, contains some meaning and value in our journey through life, in our quest to live it to the very best of our abilities.

The weekday shows are on a break for July and August, and in place of them, I’m bringing occasional episodes which bring together three poems on a theme.

In today’s episode, the poetic triply is on the theme of grief and loss.

None of us escape grief or loss in our lifetimes. In fact, it may be said that grief and loss are essential elements of a full, contented and happy life.

That doesn’t make it any easier to bear when we experience it, and these three poems — or two poems and a song lyric — do an amazing job of describing that experience, and maybe holding us by the hand and accompanying through those experiences.

Of course, grief and loss can come at the end of a loved one’s life, but it comes in other forms too, such as the pain we feel at the end of a relationship.

The poems are:

All these poems were included in earlier episodes of the podcast. You can scroll through the archive in your podcast player to find Tom French in Episode 111, John O’Donohue in Episode 95 and Andy Irvine in Episode 47.

The regular five times a week poems will return in September.

Thank you for listening.