19:47 - 2005-10-17
Requiem
"Will you sing for me, what you did for my wife? It was so beautiful."
And standing here...I can see all through his life. All the lives he's lived in books. The wars he fought in back when people had something to fight for, something more than just an unreachable idea. I can see the mn he pulled away from suicide...All the times he's gotten drunk and partied with friends. All the lives he's changed, repaired, or improved in the even the tiniest way with each person he encountered.
I know for certain that someday soon, I'll find myself up in front of a congregation singing an ancient hymn to a man no longer in this world. When you read this, don't think of my sick uncle, a man you may not have been fortunate enough to meet. Try to imagine something that will be more real to you than that. A man who's life is almost over, a generous, confidant man who would do anything for a friend, who is honest, and who spends his last days smiling, giving, and encouraging those who he will leave behind. I wonder how I will be able to utter a single note, I am so humbled...
What more can I say? You will be there, I hope Tayo...You, I know, will remain. You the only man on earth I admire more.
I hope that my life touches this many, changes this much. I hope that someday, when they sing my requiem, they hope for others like me and for a life that matters as much as mine.
"In Remembrance" from Requiem
Anonymous
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the daimond glint on snow,
I am the sunlight-ripened grain,
I am the gentle morning rain.
And when you wake in the morning's hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush,
Of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
