30/30
"How do you sum up a life?" That was the question with which - years ago - Rabbi Jay/Yaakov Marcus opened his hesped for my sister-in-law's father. The question struck me when he first belted it out and has stayed with me. I've been thinking about life summation more than usual this past month.
b
I had a long day. I attended the funeral of a dear childhood friend. I wrote the following on my way to Wellwood Cemetery.
b
In Memory of Scott Gordon
hDoes anyone ever have friends
Like the friends of their teenage youth?
I know I don't
v
In each breath of mine
In every laugh and mannerism
There is something of Scott
v
And now his breath has stopped
His mannerisms have disappeared
Scott is gone, there is less of me
;
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p
k
b
A season has been lost
An element disappeared
A force of nature undone
Mom is gone
g
Today was the thirtieth day since my mother was buried. More often than not it seems to me that it rains at burials. Once again my shoes were caked in mud. Today, unlike a month ago, I was able - as I passed through Penn Station on the way home - to have them cleaned up real good.
g
Over the last month I've thought and written a lot about mom. Much of it I deemed too sad to blog. Sometimes, I thought, "Maybe for shloshim (when I post The Piece)." Here are some haiku I wrote over the last month.
g
Minutes are drawn from
Minutes are drawn from
my life as I write these words
hanging by a thread
u
MOM
MOM
lg
You weren't supposed
to let go of the base line
and lose tug of war
o
Syag LeChachmah Shtikah
o
Syag LeChachmah Shtikah
kg
"Sorry for your loss"
"Sorry for your loss"
"There anything I can do?"
.g
"Quiet. Be with me."
"Quiet. Be with me."
giu
It's the Livyason's Turn
It's the Livyason's Turn
hb
Till my mother died
Till my mother died
I thought she would never die
That's how she played it
g
Ein me'arvin simchah besimchah. But what about lehefech? I find myself distracted from mom's sudden death by Scott's sudden death. Today, the day of Scott's funeral was mom's shloshim...
h
TO BE CONTINUED...
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:58 PM
4 Comments:
It is said that rain at a levayah is a sign that the niftar was a tzadik.
Cool. I also heard that dying on a fast day is a positive sign, possibly Shabbos too. My uncle died on Asarah BeTeivet two years ago, and my mother - his sister - died this year on Shabbos the day before the fast and was buried on the same date as her brother.
A strange coincidence.
Beautiful post. HaMakom y'nachem...
The timings are all from G-d. Most of my kids have some death connected to their birthdates. Our eldest was born on Jabotinsky's yartzeit, something our Betar friends found very auspicious.
Our son-in-law was born the very same day, year an aunt of mine died. Very spooky. I could go on. As I said, most of my kids...
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