The Healing Journey

August 24, 2023

“What now, my love, now that you left me? How can I live through another day?
Watching my dreams turn into ashes, and all my hopes into bits of clay?”
— Carl Sigman

The song “What Now, My Love?” written by Carl Sigman, was covered by different artists throughout the 60s and 70s, including Sonny & Cher, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and Shirley Bassey. The most renowned rendition was by Elvis Presley, who performed it live for a billion people worldwide on a satellite show, “Aloha from Hawaii,” transmitted to 43 countries.

While the lyrics refer to despair after a breakup, they also hauntingly describe the feelings that engulf us when someone we love dies — the inability to face another day, the dejection when our dreams are destroyed, the terrible numbness, the feeling of abandonment and that nothing matters anymore. There is only “a last goodbye.”

The death of someone we love mirrors the end of a relationship in another way. We sometimes find ourselves blaming the person who died for our situation. How could they do that to us? Nothing is the same anymore because they died and destroyed everything that was wonderful in life. It may not be a rational response, but it is a common one.

That combination of anger and despair is painful to endure and typifies the conflicting emotions you will encounter on your healing journey. They may not make sense to you, but someday they will. One thing worth remembering is that when someone we love dies, there are good-byes … but they are not last goodbyes

What Now, My Love?

What now, my love, now that you left me?
How can I live through another day,
Watching my dreams turn into ashes
And all my hopes into bits of clay?
Once I could see, once I could feel,
Now I’m numb, I’ve become unreal.
I walk the night, oh, without a goal
Stripped of my heart, my soul.
What now, my love, now that it’s over?
I feel the world closing in on me

Here comes the stars tumbling around me
And there’s the sky where the sea should be.
What now, my love, now that you’re gone?
I’d be a fool to go on and on,
No one would care, no one would cry
If I should live or die.
What now, my love, now there is nothing.
Only my last goodbye
Only my last goodbye.

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