Life Long/ Long Life

LIFE LONG/ LONG LIFE

(for family and friends)

Sadness sinks in,

With the passing of the past

Great ones

Their voices are not silenced

Since they are on record and records

But there is no fresh work

No new thing to bring the Spring

Of the heart

The elation of creation

The thrill of live and embodied

The erection of connection

Between artist and audience

Between musician and the music

Between time and eternity.

Sometimes the sounds resound

Fill the soul and move the self,

But sometimes we say…

Can these bare bones live

What do they have to give

But a pale shadow

A fleeting glimpse

An awakened memory

That dwells on the past

And cannot last?

Can we face the past

Backing our way into an uncertain future?

Backing our way

Down the corridor of today?

Can we face the music

That we are all timed beings

And say honestly…

‘Out out brief candle,

Life is but a poor player

That struts and frets his time upon the stage

And is no more’

Or should we carpe diem,

Not merely carpe the per diem

Or is there something greater than merely lasting

Or outlasting others,

Could there really be everlasting?

Not just everlasting creations

But everlasting creatures?

My heart says yes

My mind says yes please

My soul says there must be

More in store for the timed being

So, for the time being

I remember these words—

‘Ashes to ashes

Dust to dust,

In sure and certain hope of the resurrection’

I reach out my hand in faith–

Faith the assurance of things hoped for,

And a strong conviction about the things

Not yet seen

But I can almost hear the heavenly choir

That my heart desires

And think here how to tune my instrument

So that I will be in tune when I get there…

Beyond the river, beyond the earth, beyond the air,

In a permanent somewhere,

Where there is no suffering, sin, or sorrow

No disease, decay or death

Where never is heard a discouraging word

No more crying, no more tears

No more hatred, no more fears

No more weakness, no more worry

No more haste, no more hurry

But faith becomes sight, hope is realized

And love endures forever

In the presence of the One who is Love.

So instead of saying farewell

To parents and friends who have gone before

I say Fare Well,

And when I cease to roam,

I’ll see you at Home.

6/12/23