Things go wrong. We suffer. Misfortune can cripple our bodies, frazzle our emotions, or fog our intellects. Sometimes life looks so bleak to us that we think we may never recover our former health and happiness. At times like these, empathy and support from others can be not only a comfort but a stimulus toward healing.

Some of the poems in this series deal with ill health, some with pain, some with grief due to death or calamity, and some with spiritual groping. All, however, offer empathy and/or support, and they are dedicated to every person who is suffering. If you can use these poems yourself, they are dedicated to you. If someone you know might find them helpful, please consider sharing.

This series of poems is set up as if you were turning pages in a book. To proceed to the first poem, click the right-arrow beside "Begin" or click here. On all subsequent pages you may click the left-arrow to go back one poem or the right-arrow to go forward. Notice that in the bottom left corner of each page you can click a drop-down box and select any of the 36 poems in this sequence.

Whenever an adversity prevails, consider the following words written by Julian of Norwich: "But all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well." Time is on our side, it would seem, in this user-friendly universe. May it be so.