The man is gone but not forgotten, to use an old saw. He is with me as me. He has entered into my heart and never left it once.
I would cry rivers if it would bring him back, but his time had come and he left us all better off for having found him.
He was not without his flaws, but even they cast brilliant shadows of piercing light.
He wrote of the darkness within us all; it is inevitable that we fall. Without the falling, there would be no rising.
His elegance was understated, always. His lifestyle that of a minimalist. I loved that about him. He did not succumb to celebrity tackiness. Far from it.
He said that there were no diamonds in the mine; that is true. But he has us mining elsewhere, within our very own messy lives.
Peace be on his house.
Vicki Woodyard
‘He is with me as me’ – dearest Vicki, these words make me smile – how wonderfully said. Thank you very much for your continuous work.
Isn’t it only when we begin to feel and sense the ‘other’ as me, as an expansion of our own being, that we may grow and find better understanding about the various sides and faces of our own self? Are not all limitations, borders and circumferences (even that of our skin) there, not to isolate, but to actually allow us to touch and be touched by what is other? Yes, I earnestly think so.
The old man surely vibrates in great joy, sensing your sweet enacting love and powerful presence. Hail to the soul of music, poetry and art.