A SONG THAT SHOULD BE SUNG

A lady of note and fame was laid to rest today. The funeral ceremonies, in full and living color, were covered by most of the national television news organizations. There were accolades in abundance but the sorrow of her parting still remained.

The attention given to her passing aroused a deep resentment way down deep inside of my very being. It has only been a few months since two dear ladies I have known all my life passed away. Their passing left a void in my life and I loved them both very deeply. Each of them, Alta in my earlier years and Irene in later years had a very profound and positive affect upon my life.

Death sneaks up on most of us. We are never ready for that last goodbye. Never! Not for ourselves and definitely not for our close friends and relatives, the people that have really touched our lives. Those kind and gentle people that have always stood by us in our hour of need!

In death it seems that the people we truly love are suddenly missing. They are just gone! They leave this world quietly and without fanfare. Like a thief in the night, the grim reaper leaves us with a longing to cry out in our pain. We want the whole wide world to know that our loved one was just as important to the order of things as the most dazzling celebrity among us. Thus the resentment!

It is only after death that we truly understand the meaning of our relationships and we feel our loved ones deserve much more praise and recognition than they ever received. Then in our grief we realize

We are not so very different
And no matter how we try
To fool ourselves in thinking
That we should never cry.
That all our sorrows were absorbed
In the towel from which we rung
Those teardrops on a scribbled note
Of a song that should be sung!

While searching for the springtime
In the bitter snow and cold,
We think of things that might have been
With someone we used to hold.
And the need for us to finish
Those things that were begun
Is recorded there as history
In a song that should be sung!

It is awful hard to realize
We share a common pain.
The heartbreak of a loved one lost
As we cry out in vain.
Searching for a reason why
And the answer may be hung
On a nail in someone’s attic
In a song that should be sung!

Our love is just as warm and true
As a star of note and fame!
We feel the same sweet bitterness
As we seek someone to blame.
We reach out for aid and comfort
That could be found among
The contents of an old shoe box
In a song that should be sung!

When we reach the closing eulogy
For each and every one;
We all stand there as equals
In the setting of the sun!
When taps are blown at evening time
And those golden bells have rung
In each eternal resting place
Is a song that should be sung!

So, we should leave behind us
At the closing of the day,
A promise dipped in color
With the words we have to say.
As we string them in a sing-song way
Like a star that has been flung
On a pathway through the universe;
‘Tis a song that should be sung!