It’s the same feeling I had when so many other beloved, talented, funny strangers passed away.
We get teary-eyed and hurt momentarily because our lives had been kissed by their gifts—sometimes since childhood. We don’t have to make any plans, or handle affairs. We just express our sorrow and offer condolences. We smile because we can always reach for a CD, DVD, or log on to YouTube, or a classic TV station and see them and be entertained all over again. In a way, they’ll always be around. That makes us grateful. God knows, we need laughter.
Password
Match Game
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Mama’s Family
The Golden Girls
The Middle
Hot in Cleveland
Sigh…
Rest in Peace, Betty White.
“Thank you for being a friend”.
THAT STRANGE CONCERN
Eyes close, never to reopen, every day
If only words could change things
"I'm so sorry!"
"Oh no!"
"What a shame."
"I'll pray."
But, there are those
Whose passing seems wrong
Too sudden
Too soon
They were supposed to stay forever
They belonged to all of us
Or, so we thought
What will we do without them?
They were special
Yet, we never wrote or talked
We only knew them from afar
There's no real tie at all
But why are our hearts still aching
As if some part of us is missing?
Whatever they did filled some space
Some time
Some era of our lives
They made us laugh, applaud, cry
Thank God they weren't too shy
or selfish to share their gifts
They just gave
And never knew if we received it or not
They shined
And never knew our days were made brighter
We hear they're gone, and tears well up
There's that heavy sigh
Stunned silence
It stings a little
"I wish I could have told them..."
"Did they know how much we loved them?"
"How could they not know?"
Then, we seek the company of others
Who'd laughed, and cried, and thanked God, too
"What happened?"
"Did you hear?"
We remember our favorites of theirs
And demand answers that aren't ours to know
We wonder and embrace the sadness
And wipe the odd tears that fell
We sing, hum, and play the familiar songs
Things seem so unbalanced- so off course, so unfair
Why them?
Not THEM
Wait.
Why do we even care?
Does this thing have a name?
This odd, strange, and deep concern
For someone we don't even know?
And even if ugly truths are told
What will we do with the details?
Will we love them any less?
We mourn the faces of strangers
Glossy, projected images
Amplified sounds
Choreographed movement
The beautiful people—
But ordinary people just the same
Souls so talented and gifted
But they never even knew our names
Still, they go, and we hurt
For a little while
And then, in an instant, we're okay
We can always see their faces
We can always hear their voices
They left behind enough to keep us occupied
More would have been nice
But we're satisfied
Soon, we go on as if nothing happened
While the real pain is in their loved ones' eyes:
Their parents, spouses, children, and true friends
The strange concern soon ends for us
because we didn’t know THEM.
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