The days between Dad’s death and his funeral passed with a frantic urgency. There Mom and I were, securing his plot, arranging his wake, purchasing his coffin. We held back the grief as we attended to the business of saying goodbye.
I still needed to write his eulogy. Some time in the midst of all of this busyness, I took time to listen to Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
The pathos of Freddie Mecury’s piercing melody; the loss embodied in the lyrics; The melancholy of the orchestral arrangement supporting the song: it unleashed me. The sobs began as a choking sensation in my throat. I desperately held out against the tears until the damn finally broke.
…My father takes his last breath: air gurgles out of him as though from a deflating balloon.
I feel nothing. He is so still now. So unlike his graceful floating across the white Italian tile of his restaurant, greeting every one of his customers like they were guests in his own home. So unlike his laying and hammering down the planks of the backyard deck he designed and built. So unlike him.
โIs he gone?โ
My numbness shatters. In a whisper, through sudden, silent sobs, I answer my son.
โYes.โ
December sunset
an empty hospice bed
an empty room …
from Passing
After Mom died, I would feel the same grief rush forth when I listened to the song again. There is a catharsis there I can’t explain. Even today, I can’t hear the opening notes without choking up.
passing time
“Who wants to live forever?”
echoes on
for dVerse Poets’ Poetics: Cry Me Aย River (pubtended by Amaya). I may be a day late, but I am not a dollar short! The pub is open! Join us!
and Real Toads’ Tuesday Platform (imagined by Anmol (HA))
Frank J. Tassone 
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