Grief

Today’s prompt on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page is grief.  “Good grief,” I thought, “I’ve certainly had my share to say about grief.”  After all, the title of my book is The Truth About Death, which is that we all die, and that for almost everyone, that causes a good number of people a lot of pain.  “Grief is a tough beast,” I now write often to people, when I write sympathy cards, because it’s a beast I’ve wrestled with myself and I know its toughness.

And then I thought about that expression, “Good grief!”  Where does it come from?  Answers at Yahoo rated this as the best answer to that question:  “Euphemisms are words we say that are more socially acceptable than what we would otherwise choose to say. “Good grief!”, is an expression that means we are very irritated or upset about something. The “…grief” part of the expression refers to the emotional sense of being irritated or upset; grieving about what has happened. The “Good…” part of the expression is a reference to God which is intended to add emphasis and impact to the expression. Many people do not like to say the word God in public conversations so they often substitute the word “Good” instead.

Regardless, here is today’s haiku:

Unusual softness
Winter air brought down by sun
Your bones still cold.