To Emma and to time. - RSA

To Emma and to time.

Blog 5 Comments

  • Picture of Gaia Marcus
    Gaia Marcus
    Former Senior Researcher, Connected Communities
  • Communities

"There will be time, there will be time

"There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;    

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea."

Just a week ago I was here at my desk, struggling to put my thoughts into words about the 40th anniversary of the Chilean coup. And now here I am again. Heart raw against chest, soul heavy, struggling to find words that are fitting; struggling to remember with lightness; struggling to keep something of the past present.

The news that my friend, colleague and confidante Emma Lindley left us over the weekend is something that I am struggling to accept. The inner child in me is stamping its foot and demanding that the clocks be turned back. And all the adult in me can do is to trust in time. There will always be time, and it will always be too long and nowhere near enough.

In these occasions I feel there is a tendency to try and leave no word unsaid and no stone unturned and no achievement un-feted and no praise unsung. And actually, beyond remembering a person who was excellent, a person who was brilliant, a person who touched so many… I want to remember someone who is – and who will always remain – a friend.

Because Emma was a smile. Emma is a smile… And when we have made our toasts, and said our words, and cried our sorrows. When we as players have strutted on our sorry stage what remains is projects left undone, conversations left unfinished and things left unsaid. For the past does not package itself up neatly, ends tied up like the wrapping on a gift. That task is left to us here in the present.

I am proud to say that the RSA will soon be announcing its Emma Lindley prize. The prize, the exact content of which is still being decided in consultation with Emma’s parents, will seek to advance innovation in the field of mental health. The prize will seek to keep Emma and her interests in some way present.

We will update as soon as we know more. But for now... there is just time.

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

.....

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea

Join the discussion

5 Comments

Please login to post a comment or reply

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

  • Picture of Gaia Marcus

    Thank you Joe.
    I'll get in contact privately, and I will, of course, be coming to the funeral.
    Gaia.

  • Picture of Joseph Lindley

    Gaia, I don't think we've ever met. I heard about you lots, not least on a trip to Paris in May. Thank you for being Emma's friend. Your blog has brought me to tears on the several occasions I've read it, it is so beautifully and sincerely written.

    I'm beginning to realise that this pain will never go away, and as you put so poignantly, the past will not gift-wrap itself. So the task is to be and to live in the present, to learn to understand the world without the ability to see her consciousness, wit, intelligence and beauty, first hand. But it lives on in the memories of the hundreds of people she touched. Meanwhile my inner child is joining with yours, stamping in a tantrum. My head too is, with yours, hoping time will bring solace, but accepting that solace will never be enough.

    Thank you Gaia. I hope you will come to the funeral. I don't have your contact details, but you know where to find me- please get in touch.

    I'm making an online memorial for Emma at this address http://ourbelovedemma.net/ - please do send something if you feel you can.

    In dismay, and with love for my sister overflowing from all of my body.
    Joe

  • Picture of Benjamin D

    Thanks Gaia, moving to read. I have only just heard the sad news. Very sorry to hear, and pass on my sincere condolences.

  • Picture of Gaia Marcus

    Thanks for the comment Julie. I really really miss her too.

  • Picture of Julie Harrison

    Emma was and is my best friend.She was Dr Lindley,but she was my friend.We drank tea,ate cake and giggled our way through years,always connected.And I miss her.

Related articles