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Swansong

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11/04/2016

BBC Radio 4 - Swansong

A meditation on loss, with real and imagined stories bound by sound and silence.

A meditation on memory and loss, acceptance and death, with real-life stories, imagined ones and the sounds and silences that weave our worlds together.

Her heart it played
like well worn strings;
in her eyes
the sadness sings;
of one who was destined
for better things

Hana Walker-Brown's grandma was kept alive for seven hours in order for her family to rush to the hospital to say their goodbyes. One moment, alive like few 86 year olds; the next, parked in the one-way ward, a holding bay between this life and the next.

Swansong is a meditation on memory and loss, acceptance and death, with real life stories, imagined ones and the sounds and silences that weave our worlds together.

As Hana sat with her family waiting for the final moment, grief already upon them, her grandma lay in her own time and place - memories flooding in and around the reality of her situation, like a rolodex, flicking through years, moments, experiences in which she'd found happiness, sadness, weakness and strength. Content with death, after a life well-lived.

Comprising interviews with those who witnessed these final moments and audio captured by Hana with her grandma over the years, this feature blurs the lines between fact and fiction to take the listener through the precious final moments before passing to the other side.


Produced by Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

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