"Sadness isn't sadness, but happiness in a black jacket"
Reportedly from a poem by Paul McCartney, under an unknown pseudonym in Private Eye magazine. Taken from the letters page of a later edition (1-14 June 2001) of same.
Trust him to come up with something so perfectly accurate and touching.
The letter that quoted that spoke of the strength of the poetic imagery, and the invocation of happy memories brought about by bereavement. I'm glad to say I haven't ever had anyone close to me die; somehow I've managed to avoid funerals in my twenty years of life. The quote still spoke to me. It strikes me as being true not just of bereavement, where sadness is brought about by the knowledge that happy memories will never again be repeated, but perhaps of almost all sadness. I think that line will bring back different memories for everyone who reads it.
For me, it brings back memories of a girl I loved very much, who I went out with for far too short a time. She's still a friend, but I don't see her very often. I remember all the nice little things, and the thought of what I've lost moves me to tears sometimes. I remember watching a video with a good bottle of red wine, sitting in bed with her reading her pokemon story books (I loved doing that... it was so simple and sweet and innocent). Maybe the thing I miss most of all is the way she would roll over and gently hold her body against mine for a while before i fell asleep; I was warm and safe and comfortable in her arms. If I could make one moment last forever that would be it, that utterly contented perfect little moment when the only thing in the whole world that mattered was that I had someone I loved who loved me as well. There's a hundred other things as well; thinking of them makes me sad, but it's a good sort of sadness, the sort that's really just happiness put on hold for a while.