"i can't pretend i still feel very much like singing..."

[sturgess66]

Hi Geoffrey,
I am so very sorry for your loss.
Our lives can be so easily - and unexpectedly - shattered.
I am sure you probably find it hard to feel much like smiling right now.
But - still - I'm going to add one of those silly smilies - right here -----> <-----
A "virtual" smile - from Philly to Finland - from me to you.
In the hope 'twill help a bit - while your heart heals.
Linda

[Geoffrey]

Hi Geoffrey,
I am so very sorry for your loss.
Our lives can be so easily - and unexpectedly - shattered.
I am sure you probably find it hard to feel much like smiling right now.
But - still - I'm going to add one of those silly smilies - right here -----> <-----
A "virtual" smile - from Philly to Finland - from me to you.
In the hope 'twill help a bit - while your heart heals.
Linda

thank you, linda. you comfort me, this i want you to know. and so too all other friends who have written. the moon always drags the sun into the light, eventually - but sometimes by a seemingly unending rope. i am optimistic. when leonard first used to sing about the peacock, he didn't mention how deadly was its fan - that came later. something must have happened. a zoo-keeper told me that only horny male peacocks display such feathers, it is a prelude to mating, he said. what happened that made leonard associate sex with death? don't ask me because i have no idea what was going on up there in that little cerebral chamber from which he sends out his work.

[musicmania]

Yes Geoffrey the zoo keeper was correct as the tail is used to try and attract the females. However this isn't always the case as we discovered a few weeks ago when a peacock wasn't impressed with the attention his woman and chicks were getting he decided to put on a show for us!



However last weekend in a different location I did witness a peacock trying to impress a peahen. She however was having none of it.

Here is a song which I hope will give you some strength. I love the lyrics and for me they ring true. I commend you for taking the time to reply to us here and also for your positive attitude. You are an inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3Nax8yyOE

[kwills]

Geoffrey I'm so very sorry for your loss,my heart goes out to you. Big hugs.

[3mariza1]

He loves you and wants walk beside you and to comfort you.
2. Kor. 1:4
http://raamattu.uskonkirjat.net/servlet/biblesite.Bible

[st theresa1]

Dear Geoffrey,
I have come to know you only through your postings on this forum. I am so sad to hear of this loss.
There are no words I know that I can offer but I do know that Leonard has somewhere written the words you need to hear. Am so glad that you feel you can share this here.
Love, Marilyn

[Henning]

Oh friend - I only learnt about this today. How can this be ? That is the worst that can happen to you, to lose a child. There are no words for it. That's why I am silent now and will be with you and your daughter in spirit.

[jazz4111]

Oh Jesus, Geoffrey, I am so very, very sorry to hear of this awful loss. I also have not been on the Forum for some time (and my daughter, Victoria (34) is the light of my life) and I cannot even fathom such a loss. I think music can be a comfort, it certainly is to me, Leonard's foremost amongst those who write to bring it to us. Paul Simon also, who writes on "Bookends" album: ..."time it was, oh what a time it was... a time of innocence, a time of confidences. Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph, preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."
I play it today and think of you - and hope your memories as well as your friends here bring you some comfort.

[lightasabreeze]

Hello Geoffrey
This is the first time I have been on this thread, I usually just tune in the the 'news' or 'comments' etc, so I was not expecting to see such a heart breaking post regarding your terrible loses. Once again "Life is not Fair" comes to mind.
i imagine you must be about as low as one can get right now, but there seems to be a lot of people here with loving thoughts for you so I am hoping that those words of comfort can help in some small way. I know the pain of losing a mother and very soon after, a brother, but so far thank God not a daughter. I hope the sun will shine for you again soon.
While you live ,the wonderful memories of your darling daughter will never die
Sleep softly Geoffrey's daughter, Sleep softly....

Sylvie...

[Geoffrey]

thank you for these signposts pointing the way out of sorrow; i am following them. we tell our children stories, show genuine interest in their achievements, invest in them endless amounts of love. and in the end we are rewarded, by that merciful being many call 'god', with a wound that has no chance of ever healing - it is an open sore with which one has to live.

[Joe Way]

Dear Geoffrey,
I am so sorry for your loss and sorry that I am so late in acknowledging it, but I have only come to this section today. I wish that the Almighty had strown blisses upon your pilgrimage instead of pain. Please know that all of us, all of us, would do whatever we could to help ease your sorrow.

Much love,

Joe

[Geoffrey]

Joe Way wrote:
>I wish that the Almighty had strown blisses upon your pilgrimage instead of pain. Please know that all of us, all of us, would do whatever we could to help ease your sorrow.


Dear Joe. My handkerchief is still dampened, and so too my spirit, but your message, alongside the others here, help weave an apron that hinders the Almighty's hot temper from spitting too harshly at me from his pan. And I am on my knees in gratitude. I hope it may be long before the wardrobe again frees its darkest suit and sends me into the pit of mourning. For I am hungry now, for compassion, for empathy, for guidance, for the strength to tolerate the slow-drying lava of wrath pouring onto this passer-by from the sun-balcony of some spiritual penthouse. Knowledge of pain, hurt, fear and suffering can only be paid for by experience, and one is left with nothing except a longing for comfort, a crippling longing that seeps like arthritis into flesh and bone. What is my crime, and who is this vengeful God, this invisible ghost pointing its empty sleeve, this tyrant who can make deaf ears hear hemoglobin screaming from the reaper's scythe? Where is this holy mercy that we learned about in Sunday school, this grease to a creaking hinge, this Valium to a crying heart - or is the Bible but a treasure chest full of humbug; the only miracle being that someone can actually believe what is written therein? And if I blaspheme, let this soul be damned, for it shall burn forever, the flame on a president's grave - a greater monument than any cathedral.
-------------------------------------------
"Some of us are very hungry now, to hear what it is you've done that was so wrong"
['A bunch of lonesome heroes' - Leonard Cohen]

[tinderella]

So eloquent, so powerful, so true

[denise knowles]

Geoffery.

I do not know how to copy your reply to Joe, to this post.
but after reading it, I just want to say, my heart and arms, are wrap around you, as you are treading this awful and heartbroken path. They are also wrapped around your daughter,s. If only words could heal all the ill's.

Denise.

[lizzytysh]

dear geoffrey ~

for whenever you return here, I'm posting this for you. it has special meaning for me, as my mother sang it to me when I was a young child and she was putting me to bed. when I went to visit over the last years, we sang it together when we were ready to go to sleep. three weeks ago, i sang it to her as she lay dying. it feels like yesterday.

I hope you can find special personal meaning of your own as you think of and remember your own precious dear daughter. i pray for comfort to find your heart. please know I don't know what to do but that I care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_aV61q25U8


love,
lizzy
xxx

Lullaby and good night,
With roses bedight,
With lilies o'er spread
Is baby's wee bed.
Lay thee down now and rest,
May thy slumber be blessed.

Lullaby and good night,
Thy mother's delight,
Bright angels beside
My darling abide.
They will guard thee at rest,
Thou shalt wake on my breast.

*************************************************

Good evening, good night,
With roses adorned,
With carnations covered,
Slip under the covers.
Tomorrow morning, if God wants so,
you will wake once again.

Good evening, good night.
By angels watched,
Who show you in your dream
the Christ-child′s tree.
Sleep now peacefully and sweetly,
see the paradise in your dream.

^ "Näglein": archaic/poetic for "Nelklein" = carnation

Brahms's Lullaby is also commonly sung to the Hebrew words of Jacob's blessing to his grandchildren, Ephraim and Menashe, in Genesis 48:16.[1][citation needed] This blessing is incorporated into the "Bedtime Shema" and has thus become a popular Jewish Lullaby (Hamalach hagoel oti...).[2]


love,
lizzy
xxx