Life and Death...

Today, I got the news that my uncle died. Died at four in the morning, buried at three in the afternoon. No time to grieve.

My brother's wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Six weeks premature, but with a healthy pair of lungs.

Life and death. Rejoicing and sorrow.

Even in laughter, the heart may ache. That's in Proverbs isn't it?

I think of all the deaths and births that I have missed. How life changes while my memory stands still. I cannot imagine my uncle lying in his coffin. I cannot picture the still earth covering him. It seems so unreal, this death. Unreal as all the other deaths that I only hear about over the telephone.

My life goes on, punctuated by moments of joy that I miss. Like the baby whom I will see as a digital photograph...juxtaposed by the disembodied announcement of loss - Uncle Sonny died.

Buried before I have time to grieve. The dead pass from my life like fleeting shadows, fragments of a forlorn dream.