Los Angeles, 2012
My friend Michelle passed away in her sleep yesterday.
We were friends since we were in grade school.
A Parable of Immortality
By Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads white sails
To the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky
come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, "There she goes!"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight - that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
"There she goes!" there are other eyes
watching her coming and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes."
(This poem was a comfort to me when my friend P. Faustino sent it after my dad died)