Ashes
We put my dad’s ashes in the river today.
I’ve known that’s what he wanted for years.
But the execution…
The act.
To see the ash move into the water.
A cloud.
An etherial representation.
Such sacred symbolism.
The ash, powdery soft with a touch of grit.
So…to set him free.
Release him…
He is gone.
We know that. I know that.
But it was us who held him.
Who hold him.
The spreading,
The ritual, was rich with metaphor and meaning.
An emulsion.
An evolution.
From one thing to another.
It happened before our eyes, my eyes.
The ash, a cloud that dissipated, as it drifted down river.
Do you see?
This is what we all are.
Adrift along the river.
It can be so easy.
And sometimes, so hard.
But the river will take you… home.
It will take you home.
My father, this mighty, mighty entity.
Was… one with the river.
Is… one with the river.
Is the river.
Process that for a moment with me…
I lived on the river,
We lived on the river.
We never woke up to the same river.
Ever.
It is ever changing, ever evolving.
This thing, that my dad is now one with, is gone.
It’s hard to say it was ever there in the first place.
This is life.
We attach to ideas
And identities.
We see ourselves as omnipotent.
Looking towards legacies.
Yet,
We are the river.
A song, so to speak.
An essence not to be contained.
Only appreciated,
Pondered,
And, reveled.
October 3, 2017 @ 1:55 pm
Very nice Tim, your dad would have appreciated it I know he had a great love for the St. Croix for many years. He will be missed and remembered by many. I’m sure he was a great role model for you and Chanel
October 3, 2017 @ 1:58 pm
Thank you Jerry
October 3, 2017 @ 9:42 pm
That was very nice Tim. You did well. He is at his resting place.
October 3, 2017 @ 10:10 pm
Thanks Jerry
October 3, 2017 @ 4:46 pm
What a great way to honor him.
October 3, 2017 @ 10:09 pm
Thank you Darrel
October 4, 2017 @ 4:49 pm
Tim all of the things that you write have such a great and wonderful way of describing feelings! Very insightful, thoughtful and powerful. Just gorgeous writing!
October 4, 2017 @ 8:38 pm
Thanks Larry