I have roots in the Deep South of our country.  We are known for our cuisine, hospitality, poverty, racism, pride, arrogance, and ignorance, and… our accents. There is also a great and continuing fount of Southern Literature with many writers I could recommend to you, such as William Faulkner, Maya Angelou, Reynolds Price, and many more.

A personal interest of mine is the continued use of aphorisms, turns of phrases, and often archaic words that persisted in Southern English.  I heard parents remark “That boy is a cipher!” because he collected all kinds of plants and bugs and grubs for his “laboratory”. So, I was struck by Elisa Gabbert’s poem About Suffering.   The question “How does one suffer “gladly”, exactly?” stopped me cold. It had been a long time since I had heard the turn of phrase “to suffer gladly”. 

When people ask me “Why Palliative Care?” I often respond that “Suffering is a cipher.  The cause and response to suffering for any one person are unique. This work requires curiosity and artfulness; you often have to color outside the lines of guidance.”

Read Gabbert’s poem at the link below as she artfully sews together a collection of phrases about suffering that all get at a part of this universal experience.

The final line of wisdom “About suffering, no one is ever wrong.”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148839/about-suffering?mc_cid=f8ec1ba897&mc_eid=06ae309ef8