Eulogy- the music in me - my all time favorite work

Eulogy:  The Music in Me

 

               Hearing melody of promise       

               cradled in grassy loam

               I first paused upon the brook;

               not considering beginnings

               but content to the moment

               listening to sweet songs

               sung in celebration of being.

               The purity of purpose

               with beguiling freshness

               my introduction to aquatic captivation
 

                It was simple and free

               That your music came into me
 

                I went on

               and a robin bathed among the bubbles

               and  dragonflies skimmed the surface

               while the sun captured a prism in reflection of beauty.

               As hours drained to days,

               pines grew tall, seasons turned, and forest flourished.

               Deer came and drank deep, and were nourished

 

               The song was reason to be

               and your music touched me

 

               Onward, scouring ever wider path

               flow found farmers field

               and turned turbines to useful and productive time.

               The timbre of the lyric deepened

               and was overlain

               with the beat of management

               and percussion of civilization

 

               With reason and purpose apparent to me

               The music was still the beauty to see

 

               But things came into the waters

               dumped dank and dark

               and noisy with destruction

               and they spoilt the harmony

               and drained the music.

               So, slowed in silt

               and burdened in pollution

               the treasured brook slid silently

               into oneness of the sea.

 

               Now

               remembered in a raindrop

               hitting my cheek as

               a tear from heaven

                I stand heart in hand;

               My brook is gone now that you're free

               But your music fond friend;

               The music is in me                            

 

 -Jerry Wendt in loving memory of Rick Emanuel

                                                                            May 29, 1994

 

This is my all time favorite poem. It was read on an Iowa hilltop.  Right before me, another friend, Lila Aeon, sang a traditional Norwegian song for the dead as clouds grew more ominous.  At the moment I finished, there was a deluge of rain driving us to shelter.  It was as though Rick was saying "All right, already; enough; let's move on."