Harry's Place

That is really terrible news. I don’t think this site is good for me, or anyone for that matter. Always depressing news it seems

The death of a child really does bring a tear to your eye.

There are no words for such grief, especially when it is close to one. If we got really emotionally involved in all the deaths of children on the news – I remember that Palestinian doctor, a friend of Israel, who lost his daughters – we would go to pieces. When Else Lasker Schueler lost her son she wrote this poem, which I translated into English:

You will always die again for me
With the parting year, my child,

When leaves disperse
And twigs grow thin.

With the red roses
You tasted death bitterly,

Not a single withering throb
Was spared you.

So I weep sorely, forever,
At night in my heart.

Still the lullabies sigh out of me
That sobbed you into death,

And my eyes turn no more
To the world;

The green of leaves hurts them.
- but the Eternal lives in me -

My love for you is the image
One can make oneself of God.

I also saw angels in weeping,
In the wind and in the rain.

They drifted………
In a heavenly air.

When the moon’s in bloom
It resembles your life, my child

And I cannot look
When the light-spending butterfly flutters away carefree.

I never foreshadowed death
- spying around you, my child –

And I love the room’s walls
Which I paint with your boyish face,

The stars in this month
That fall so many sprinkling into life
Drop heavy on my heart.

It was nice to see Gordon Brown leading the tributes to Cameron’s son – I know that the PM is obliged to do so, but in his case it had added poignancy because of his own similar tragedy. I hope that noone tries to make a political advantage here, and to be fair to Cameron I don’t expect him to.

As for *that* comment, words fail me.

Felix,
That made me cry.

I think this Tagnuzlsx poster is highly useful as an illustration of the kind of political True Believer who considers it vital to never let his ideology slip.

It is at times like these that the True Believers of all stripes show their true coloursm

It is a sad day – I have every sympathy for the Cameron family and hope they get a bit of peace from prying eyes and nonsense politicking for a while.

Tagnuzlsx

I have no idea who you are, but if you describe yourself as some sort of socialist, you should think about the meaning of the word social – ism. That means that you try to behave decently towards people, even to those people who might be total bastards. The guy has just lost his child, can you not see how grossly offensive you are being?

Tagnuzlsx’s comment has been deleted, however I can guess at what it said.

Tagnuzlsx, you really are an astonishing cunt!

I have very little time for Cameron as a politician. I think he is the wrong leader for the Tory party and will be a lousy Prime minister, but I have just been hearing on the radio just what caring for his son entailed. He was regularly in the hospital with him till three or four in the morning and then in his office at eight.
It is astonishing that he could stand up straight let alone lead a Political party. My respect for him has soared.
Yes that poem made me cry too Felix. Thanks for posting it.

Beautiful poem, Felix.

Handicapped children require extra effort on the part of parents, but are nontheless a delight.

I’ve a mentally handicapped nephew who is warmly loved and appreciated by his family. They all look out for him, and he is the rallying point for them.

The death of a child is the fgreatest tragedy any parent can face.

there is a section of montrel’s Mont Royal cemetary devoted to the child victims of an epidemic ( forget which disease) that ravaged the city in the 1800s.

The grief expressed by the parents of these young hildren, as written on their tombstones, ( most were just toddlers) are some of the most powerful and moving words I’ve ever read.

In fact, it brought me to tears.

The sadness was still palpable even after all these years.

Only the living can pity the dead – Tagnuzlsx is already dead.

I’m a weird, childless loner and I can only imagine the heartache losing a child – after suffering all of its life – is like. My deepest condolences to Mr. and Mrs. Cameron.

So sorry to hear.

Thoughts and hugs are with DC, SC & Co.

Lovely poem Felix. Terrifyingly beautiful.

I found it difficult to even come to the thread and express my heartfelt sympathies and condolences because any words just seemed so inadequate, and I knew I would write through tear-stained eyes, as I do now.

I am a father with a child having an autistic spectrum but fortunately high-functioning and almost undetectable by those who meet (him/her) I am closer to understanding the helplessness of a child that doesn’t really understand their own differences and handicaps.

At this time we should reflect on all such children of handicapped circumstance and the devatatsting effects that their lives, not just their deaths, have on the families who look after them.

My sympathies and thoughts to the Cameron’s and the hope that the tragedy highlights the plight of those who’s child’s life and death will otherwise go unnoticed even though the circumstances will be similar.

Very sad, the pain of losing a child has to be indescribable, just the thought is enough to cause real pain. It’s something most of us can empathise with, even those without kids but especially so if we have children of our own.

For most of us, nothing is more precious than our children.

I have little doubt that Ivan Cameron was cherished in his short life.

There is something terribly poignant in the fact that both our Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition have suffered the tragic loss of a child.

I felt genuinely moved at this news. Today Cameron is a breaved father and not a politician. My prayers are with him and his family.

‘Tagnuzlsx

I have no idea who you are, but if you describe yourself as some sort of socialist, you should think about the meaning of the word social – ism. That means that you try to behave decently towards people, even to those people who might be total bastards. The guy has just lost his child, can you not see how grossly offensive you are being?’

Agree with Zin fully. This is sad news.

Terrible news. It always amazes me that parents who lose children manage to carry on. I know I wouldn’t be able to. But, of course, I would….

Thoughts and condolences to the Cameron family.

As for that Tagnulllxxxz idiot – this’d be the same man who in the past has been very quick to defend paedophiles. A lovely fella, obviously.

That is very sad to hear. I can only begin to imagine how the family must feel.

When one has children it is said that one becomes a hostage to fortune. It’s so against the natural order of things to outlive one’s children.

I am very sorry for the Camerons’ loss.

And thank you for the poem, Felix.

My sincere and deepest condolences to David and Samantha Cameron and their whole family, for the tragic death of their precious son Ivan.

May G-d wipe the tears from their faces, and comfort them in their sadness.

Terrible for anyone to lose a child. I disagree totally with Cameron but this is absolutely the worst thing that could happen to anyone. There is nothing that can be said – even time does not heal wounds like these.

Graham, were those words ‘I disagree totally with Cameron BUT’ really really necessary?

NO – yes they were.

Then you are disgusting.

Thank you, David for doing this touching post, and giving us that bit of insight into how much Ivan was loved and cared for by his family. I remember being moved and impressed by the way David Cameron talked about his son on Desert Island Discs, not least the way he owned up to coming to terms with the shattering of all his hopes and assumptions about what his son would be. He deserves credit both for what he talked about and what it’s now emerged he kept silent about.

I hope the family and friends will find comfort and support in going through this terrible time.

It was one of the more endearing and less known aspects of Churchill’s way of life that he used to go and spend many hours sitting on a bench which he had put up near where his little daughter Marigold, who died of a childhood illness, lay buried, just looking at the grave and thinking about his memories of her.

Thanks – But as this is a thread about Cameron’s loss I will not aid you in your attempt to score cheap political points by pointing out how ridiculous you are.

Very sad. My condolences to Mr Cameron and Family.

Graham’s usually a boring wanker BUT on this occasion I concur with his sentiments and congratulate him for his emotional correctness in these tragic times.

As a dad myself this broke my heart, not only for the tragic event but for the pain that little feller endured in his short life. We obviously all have our opinions of Cameron the politician, but he is indisputably a really warm, loving father. I hope he and his family can find some strength and comfort from each other.

Yes, so do I

My deepest sympathy to the Cameron family – My thoughts & prayers are with You at this sad time .

From a member of The Trade Union Movement & Labour Party in Oxfordshire .

A tragic loss. Sympathies and condolences to the Cameron family. I hope they can find some comfort in the fact that they gave Ivan the best possible life.

SmartCookie, I am in a position similar, though not the same as yours, but I cannot begin to understand the grief and pain that David and Samantha Cameron are feeling right now. Loss like that is something you never quite get over – something the poem expresses so well. Thank you, David, for posting this.

My deepest sympathies and condolences to the Camerons on this tragic loss. To lose a young child is always tragic, but especially so when it comes after years of a terminal illness. Felix, thank you for citting that eloquent poem.

Here in northern Virginia, my congressman James Moran, lost his seven year old daughter to leukemian several years ago. She had been diagnosed with the disease when she was three.

Veteran journalist John Gunther told the story of the last three years of the life of his 17 yr old son, Johnny as he fought against a brain tumor in his 1949 memior, “Death, Be not Proud”. This very honest and moving portrayal of a young man’s struggle against a terminal illness is considered one of the best, perhaps the best book on this tragic subject. It is a mark of its appeal that the book is still in print 60 years later.

It’s Ash Wednesday

Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris

Genesis 3:19

Poor lad didn’t have much of a life, but was always surrounded by a loving family.

What an utterly tragic circumstance. The whole family must be devastated. I do feel so sorry for them all.

What (nearly) everyone else said.

Veteran journalist John Gunther told the story of the last three years of the life of his 17 yr old son, Johnny as he fought against a brain tumor in his 1949 memior, “Death, Be not Proud”.

Yep, read this on a plane and felt a right berk as I snivelled all the way from London to New York.

Very sad news. My thoughts and prayers are with the Camerons.

What a pack of depraved and disgusting ghouls, when the only tears brought to your eyes by the recent murder of hundreds of children in Gaza was tears of joy. Every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger — but there are no tears for them from the sick hypocrites at HP.

My thoughts go out the Cameron’s at such a difficult time.