July 4th our sadness

This year has been really sad for us all, as we lost our dear friend Jack to cancer in October. He came with Gill and Casey to our July 4th barbecue for them. He was a great friend to us all and nothing was too much in helping his friends if they were in need.

This is the poem Tom wrote when he heard of his pasing away:

October Brings the Cold

What, really, do we know,

Of the shift from life to death;

With our childlike, searching guesswork

On the themes of that last breath?

When I'd heard that he'd departed,

Then the child within me spoke;

Asking questions, shouting answers,

Breathing fire, spewing smoke.

Then I knew I had to grow up,

So I left the house and walked

Down the path to that frail seashore

While the child and adult talked.

But those voices both were quietened

As I looked across the bay;

Contemplating - senses heightened -

There was nothing more to say.

Little breezes teased the surface,

And the ripples laughed and danced;

While the cloudlets hurried eastward

With the seagulls they'd romanced.

And the wavelets kissed the shoreline

Over stones that seemed to sway;

While the lighthouse pointed skyward,

From its home across the bay.

Are these the objects we call lifeless,

Like my friend, soon in his grave?

Or is each infused with life-force

From the memories we save?