Garden of Things Lost

<p>Paula Sayword's <em>Garden of Things Lost</em> contains the unspeakable beside the</p><p>ordinariness of everyday life---the profane and the sweetness of life. The poems hold the</p><p>holiness of an inner world with the details of our mundane selves. Holding these two</p><p>elements together her words reach all of us: mothers sisters lovers children (our losses</p><p>become her losses) hers ours. The poems merge the sacred inner world of ourselves</p><p>with life's duties; the reader is left with both these worlds as we traverse her path on a</p><p>journey from one's beginning to reconciling one's limited time in this blessed life of </p><p>hers and ours. We too stumble after God. We come out on the other side both</p><p>fulfilled and triumphant a garden that continues to grow as we face loss.</p><p><br></p><p>Abigail Warren</p><p>author of <em>Air-Breathing Life </em>and<em> Inexact Grace</em></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>