Gill Atkinson Civil Celebrant

Gill Atkinson Civil Celebrant I am a qualified Civil Celebrant, a member of and trained by the UK Society of Celebrants.

10/11/2025

Today I saw a flower
It reminded me of you
You stood there in the sunshine
With your petals in full bloom

But you were stood alone
There were no others of your kind
Standing there beside you
For they had been left behind

In fields that you used to share with them
Some time ago
When they became your family
And you helped each other grow

But there were stormy days ahead
Skies all dark and grey
Fields that were torched by lightning
Flooded by the rain

And though they tried to fight it
There were flowers by your side
That had to lay themselves down
So that others could survive

And I know you feel guilty
That you’re growing on without them
But they need you to keep going
So that you can talk about them

To keep their hearts alive,
To share their stories and their names
You know if you were in their place
That you would want the same

You’d want them to chase sunshine
To camp beneath the stars
To honour you by living
Whilst they kept you in their hearts

So try to stem your sadness
And those guilty tears you shed
For they live on within you
In your petals bright and red

Yes, today I saw a poppy
It reminded me of you
And every time I see it
I’ll be reminded of them too

*******

This was a request from a TikTok follower for a poem about a soldier’s guilt after returning from service. It is in the book What the Wild Replied.

Link to a spoken word reading in the comments.

15/10/2025

Loss breaks our hearts open until they’re barely recognizable.

Everything we thought we knew about our world and ourselves changes in an instant. The pain is staggering and overwhelming.

But to those hearts that are hurting so badly, I offer you this gentle reminder:

The person you lost, the person you are missing: They mattered so deeply.

While they were here, they poured their love into you.

They wrote their story in your heart to give you something to carry with you.

The pain of their absence is a reminder of how much their presence mattered and how much their love mattered.

And while grief means learning to express and share that love differently, it is still within you: so strong and steady.

The person you are has been shaped, in part, by the love you’ve been given. Because they were here and it mattered.

And despite your pain, you are here, and it matters.

The way you carry the love of everyone you’ve lost matters.

The way you continue to pour love into the hearts around you matters.

The way, day after day, your hurting heart continues to bring kindness and empathy into the scary unknowns and this uncertain terrain: it matters.

And we may never fully get to understand how much of an impact that love makes, but it is growing and it is taking root in the hearts of everyone whose lives intersect with ours, just as the love we’ve been given has grown so beautifully within us.

It matters.

So, may you take these two simple truths forward with you today:

They were here, and it mattered.

You are here, and it matters.

-Liz Newman

14/10/2025

• A JOYful Suggestion • If today gets difficult, remember the sound of your favorite person’s laugh, the feeling you get when a song you love comes on, the way sunlight bounces off a window and that we are here to take care of each other. ~Nanea Hoffman, Sweatpants & Coffee

Sherri 🍂🧡🍁🧡 Incredible JOY

14/10/2025

If one day something shifted
And the world around us changed
So that we saw the weights
That people carry every day

Perhaps we'd notice burdens
Round the shoulders of a friend
Or watch a stranger pull a train of grief
That never ends

Perhaps we'd see that someone
On the bus can barely stand
Because of all the heaviness
They hold within their hands

Perhaps we'd see a colleague
Carrying a box around
And watch them - as the day goes by -
Stoop closer to the ground

We'd recognise the load of things
We're never normally shown
We'd see that people carry
So much heaviness alone

And maybe if we saw it all
We'd stop a little while
We'd load our words with kindness
And we'd speak them with a smile

For maybe all our judgement
Would be softened into grace
And all our empathy would make
The world a better place

Yes, perhaps we’d move more gently,
Speak compassion to the air
If just for once, our eyes could see
The weights that others bear

*****

Becky Hemsley 2025
Artwork by R.C. Gorman

This is a new poem, but details of my existing works are on my website: beckyhemsley.com

12/09/2025

Moving On...

At first, everyone will understand. At the funeral they will understand and in the immediate aftermath they will get it.

But after a while, they might talk of moving on.

And to that, I say…

You don’t move on. You just move forwards.

Losing someone you love is a moment in time that sends shockwaves throughout the rest of your life.

The moment may have passed. But the repercussions will not.
Because how do you move on when parts of them are parts of you?

The way you put the sugar in your cup before you’ve added the coffee – that’s because of them.

The way you use scissors to cut pizza into slices because that’s how they used to do it.

The way you fold chip packets into triangles because they taught you how to do it one summer.

We are all a mixture of everyone we have ever known.
And so, when they are gone, little parts of us are gone too.
But the opposite is also true: as long as we are here, they remain.
In us.

In all of our little everyday habits that were once theirs and became ours.

So, do not feel pressure to move on.

Only forwards.

Knowing you will be carrying them with you all the way.

******

Becky Hemsley 2022
Artwork by Amanda Cass

Moving On is from When I Am Gone
https://a.co/d/iRPt7mh

19/08/2025

love came first…

My love to all who are grieving. ❤️

(A beautifully illustrated version of this is in my next book ‘Joy chose you’ )

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