Remembering Hellmut

One hundred of us stand or sit.
Tables with water, breezes bringing
Coolness to our sweat drained bodies.

Our attention focuses as one man’s life 
captures our imagination. Memories
of kindness, cello, trees, choir, painting.

Our hearts hear the message, feel the 
pull to not leave this earth without living.
Create while we birth, work, love.

Long time friends, spouse, children, family
saying goodbye to one who has left 
his mark in all who stand at his earthen home.

My gaze moves to all that surrounds me,
cool, calm water, lilies, phlox
blooming in this late July heat. 

Soil dried from lack of rain; flowers laced
when placed at his side; ashes leaning toward earth. 
A haze of smoke from distant wildfires fills our nostrils. 

We laugh, we celebrate, we feel gratitude
in our current moment of living. We ponder
death and share from this truth. 

In loss we feel love. In dryness we experience moisture.
In memory we experience renewed spirit. 
In death we are pulled to the living.