Last January, I lost someone I love dearly to suicide. Without them, the light in the world is forever diminished. Their life was a gift to all of us and we are lost without them. I miss them so much, and have so many regrets. I wish so badly I could tell them these things. But because they are gone, I am going to tell them to you.

“cling to hope,
the memory of your Shire
hold away despair

carry on, climbing
the slopes of doom
one foot and then another”

- kaitlyn facista

Sometimes despair can feel so suffocating,
Darkness becomes blinding,
And grief akin to drowning,

But there are so many moments in his works
when Tolkien begs us to hold onto hope,
if we can, even for just a moment longer.

To remember:

there is still light, and beauty, and love
- even if we cannot see it right now,
that shadow will pass, the sun unveiled,
that they cannot conquer for ever,

that it is good that you are here,
that the world needs who you are.

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach." - JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King

"Though here at journey's end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell."

- JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King

If these words or images resonated with you, you are more than welcome to print them off or save them for personal use. I hope they can bring you a glimpse of light in moments of darkness. If you would like to see all of the other free printable art and resources I’ve created, you can visit my Free Resource Library here.