Hopi Prayer

where do we go when we die? into the earth? into the ether or the heavens? are we recycled and are reincarnated again, or is our energy turned into something else?

Stefan made a comment and mentioned this hopi prayer:

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint in the snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle summer rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

it's a lovely thought that we go on to become something else. it's true that we often don't miss something (or someone) until they are gone, but i found out tonight that someone's passing can make us aware of things that would normally go unnoticed.

tonight i went to a memorial service for Christine. it was a memorial service with a difference: it was more of a remembering. Christine's friends wrote memories of her, wrote thoughts they had, things they wished they'd said to her, and photos of her from child to adult. although it was a sad occasion there was a great deal of happiness in the hall.

there was a large moth in the hall also, just a little smaller than the bat that was circling my head some weeks ago. more than one person commented that maybe it was Christine looking down on us all. a few more told of similar things that day. would these things have had the same level of importance attached to them if their world had not been rocked completely? probably not, but it's at times like these that you realise that the small things really matter. small notes, gifts of a leaf, sharing a cup of soup, stick with you. whether or not it was Christine's soul fluttering above us, she has made us look at the world in a different way.

what is my memory? a gift of a bunch of flowers made from textile samples. :)