Gratitude to the young people who carry the songs forward so lovingly / The holy ground took care of everything / Love waits forever

It is a joy to me to listen to covers of songs from my youth, especially this one that R gave to me during his year of experiencing war in Vietnam.  What love has given to us, no one can take away.  

*

About 20 years later I heard "The Loving Time."  

*

This morning I looked for a cover of "The Loving Time" song by the young people.  I found one.

*

It is good to revisit these songs this morning and feel grateful to have loved and been loved.  Not everyone has had that experience.   

And yet, in the lyrics of Bob Dylan you will hear, "Love waits forever, for one and for all."

Resting on the Wings of a Bird of Peace

Life, death, and mourning.

Version sung on behalf of a man:

God, full of mercy, who dwells in the heights, provide a sure rest upon the Divine Presence's wings, within the range of the holy, pure and glorious, whose shining resemble the sky's, to the soul of (Hebrew name of deceased) son of (Hebrew name of his father) for a charity was given to the memory of his soul. Therefore, the Master of Mercy will protect him forever, from behind the hiding of his wings, and will tie his soul with the rope of life. The Everlasting is his heritage, and he shall rest peacefully upon his lying place, and let us say: Amen.

Talking About What Is Not Broken

Early this morning we learned that a friend of ours, one who had struggled with alcoholism for many years and had tried with all his heart to stop drinking, died at home in his bed sometime early yesterday after having taken a cab to a grocery store the previous night so that he could buy some vodka and find some peace. He is not the first friend that I have lost as the result of alcoholism and won't be the last. Yesterday morning I woke up feeling out of sorts. I went down to Bellingham to look out at the water, not knowing that our friend had died. We are both fragile and indestructible, and the earth and the sky and the water share that with us.

This morning and always I want to honor our friend's life and that spirit in him, and in all of us, which is not broken. His kindness, his generosity, his gentleness, his courage, his perseverance, his love for his family and friends remain with us.

 

("Talking About What Is Not Broken," gouache and watercolor, 1989, by am. The paintings go side by side, but I was unable to figure out how to place them that way.)

A Birthday in June

September 11 / His first word was "Light."