Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Funeral is Over

Les PaulLes Paul via last.fm

I don't think I'm going to blog about it. I think writing about the funeral I will need to do a little Les Paul, that is, lay down some tracks, which certainly is one way of describing writing, revising, going through drafts.

E. wrote a beautiful tribute to her mom, characterizing her mom by thanking various friends and family members, identifying the reasons mom felt gratitude. This was both specific and generous. It's funny how often funeral tributes are sometimes more about the speaker than the subject of the tribute. The speaker is the circle, and the person being honored is the tangent.

Some of the tributes were like that a little more than I like. It would seem that I am writing about the funeral. This is just the first track. What is harder to write about is the ambiance, I guess you'd call it -- the Protestant hymns, the insistence that tears are all right but that Mom is with Jesus so (implication) get a grip people.

Unless you aren't really a Christian. Hah! Imposter, bowing that head but not closing those eyes, nodding not in agreement but in time with the tides, the crumbling atoms, the rhythms of the sky, the rhythms of all the fancy words I've just disgorged.

And the hymns, some of them are treacle and some will break your heart, particularly Amazing Grace, a capella. This being a wretch thing, also feeling and/or being lost, I can identify with that, with the problem, just not with the solution. Very complicated afternoon.

So, track one.

2 comments:

Morahan Family said...

Sorry to hear of developments. Hope E. is o.k. with it all.
T.

....J.Michael Robertson said...

It hasn't all sunk in yet. She's still in Florida comforting her sister who was the caregiver. Let's hope they are comforting one another.