My friend passed away this morning, too fast and too soon. She had one of the most generous loving hearts I’ve ever known and the world is a grayer place without her light in it. Rest in peace, Carol.
The earth will never be the same again.
Rock, water, tree, iron, share this grief
As distant stars participate in pain.
A candle snuffed, a falling star or leaf,
A dolphin death, O this particular loss
Is Heaven-mourned; for if no angel cried,
If this small one was tossed away as dross,
The very galaxies then would have lied.
How shall we sing our love’s song now
In this strange land where all are born to die?
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry
That every life is noted and is cherished,
And nothing loved is ever lost or perished.
—Madeleine L’Engle
from A Ring of Endless Light