2001-01-21 - 22:09:32
STARLIGHT STAR BRIGHT…
A light from a distant star heads towards the earth. Its photoelectric existence is born long before I ever existed or thought, or reasoned or desired, or needed or felt her touch against my cheek on that cold winter’s evening.
Yet by the time its light passes into our solar system and passes timelessly past our Moon, and lights the pages of this writing for an instant, I will no loner exist, except as a precious memory in her mind and in the tales she tells my daughter.
“Tell me again momma. What was daddy like when I was born?”
She turns and looks lovingly at Elizabeth, as she is getting ready for her daughter’s graduation from college. She will deliver the Honors Talk today, just as her mother did when she graduated from Columbia long ago.
“You’re not going to talk about your Father in your talk to day are you? “’Cause if you are I want to bring some extra tissues with me….”
She turned at went back into the bedroom and sat on the bed. Her mind retreating to the days of long ago when they decided they were the only ones in the universe who understood each other and who each could love for ever… and she sighed. “Oh Bobby, you would be so proud of her today. Your legacy is so remarkable …I love you!”
The students gathered on the podium and the thousand or so parents and friends filed into their seats on this sunny May afternoon on the campus known for so many political rallies and protests.
It was not long before she rose to accept her diploma, and taking her place at the podium she began to address the large crowd that day…
“… I am here to day because of a dream held by a man long ago. He wanted me to tell you that dreams do come true if you love them, and nurture them, and sacrifice for them… I have done these things, and I have made that dream come true to day… In the audience today is my mother Sara and my brother Jon. I will have a lot to live up to, as my momma would say, but I want to say to all of you gathered here today… when you next encounter your dream, remember that it needs you as much as you need it, and to cherish it as if it were real…”
And with that a beam of light sped toward the earth and refracted into a billion parts, one part entered the diamond earring of Sara’s left ear and was thrown into the eye of Elizabeth, who winked at me in heaven just now…
LB
