I wrote this to be read at the funeral service of a friend of mine. Tom was a loner.
Tom was a 6’4” bear of
a man with the gentle heart of a kitten.
He was a Radiologist at the hospital where I
worked .
He was a genius mathematician who could release the structure of that
discipline and explore the freedom of philosophy.
It was a joy to share time with him
and his agile and creative mind.
He was also gay, although it was not obvious
and he mostly avoided
the gay community.
One night, coming home late from a hospital function,
he
encountered intruders in his home.
What happened was never know for certain,
but
the authorities and the newspapers reported it as a “gay-bashing”: this loving,
peaceful man was bound and murdered.
FOR TOM
October 24, 1986
Fare you well,
Gentle giant friend
Of modulated mind
And harmonious heart,
Now unstrung and mute.
May you, who voiced
The Socratic thought:
Death could be good
If it was like an unremembered sleep…
May you find it so.
And if it is,
Then you will surely be content
In an eternity of nothingness
Having prepared for it
With such gratifying prelude.
We who stand, stunned, with Janus-eyes
That stare amazed at past and fore,
We must believe
You took one last deep easy sigh
That sent a rush of spirit
Through your flesh
And made you drunk with peace
While beyond your billowing curtain
A cricket pacified the violent night
And made it safe for you to sleep.
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