the drummer of rush died today. no more walks for him, no more concerts, breakfast, thoughts or visits from friends. the long sleep. we avoid the topic, we hush when we talk about it, sweep it under the carpet. but what awaits us at the end, what will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up?

death is not the opposite of life but part of it.

its like never being born. this blankness is the necessary counterpart to being. just like everything out there is filled with nothing, nothingness is where we all end up. many of us die when we lose the will, the ability, to see life in all its candescence. so that we can make room for those who will, that natures beauty and power are for those of us living. others simply strike bad luck, get in the way of viruses or accidents.

i see the end of us playing out in a garden, reaching for the sun. at times all wither away, but its hard to see with all the new additions to the setting. back to the earth we settle, just where we came out of. repeating, like the waves or the sun rising, circles of birth and death caught between our consciousness. important to us alone, acknowledged by those around us, a flicker of light in a long darkness where the blackness is like nothing. it cannot be held, captured or seen. but is everywhere and will encompass us all. we will join the drummer, back into the earth we will go.