Dad passed on November 10'th 1987. He died of a heart attack while rehearsing for a charity show put on by the local Kiwanis club and was performing a solo on stage when he went.
A good friend of mine named Nancy was there and wrote the following poem that very night. I thought it an appropriate way to honor dad on this day.
The Sudden Passing of a Friend
They say that all the world's a stage
And we just players on it,
Your time on stage was brief-
You died doing what you loved,
Singing the perfect song for you,
And yet the time was wrong,
Was out of joint,
And you were taken in your prime,
Into another place, a shadow world
Where we could not follow after you
Or help to ease the pain of passage.
If we have learned anything of death
From life,
We have confronted the fragility
Of our existence,
We are the harmonic blend of violins,
Of voices, and of triumphs.
We are capable of love and joy,
And the long, long memory of sorrow.
But sadly, there are some things
We cannot mend.
And so we let you go,
My friend,
And take our comfort from each other,
For your loss.
And when we take our final curtain call
On darkened stage, the houselights dimmed,
The final chorus given,
We will remember you and weep,
At the stilling of a song.
A good friend of mine named Nancy was there and wrote the following poem that very night. I thought it an appropriate way to honor dad on this day.
The Sudden Passing of a Friend
They say that all the world's a stage
And we just players on it,
Your time on stage was brief-
You died doing what you loved,
Singing the perfect song for you,
And yet the time was wrong,
Was out of joint,
And you were taken in your prime,
Into another place, a shadow world
Where we could not follow after you
Or help to ease the pain of passage.
If we have learned anything of death
From life,
We have confronted the fragility
Of our existence,
We are the harmonic blend of violins,
Of voices, and of triumphs.
We are capable of love and joy,
And the long, long memory of sorrow.
But sadly, there are some things
We cannot mend.
And so we let you go,
My friend,
And take our comfort from each other,
For your loss.
And when we take our final curtain call
On darkened stage, the houselights dimmed,
The final chorus given,
We will remember you and weep,
At the stilling of a song.
