La Fuite de la Lune: Farewell, Kathleen

-Bridie's Hill-

Rest in Peace, Kathleen

LA FUITE DE LA LUNE
by: Oscar Wilde

O outer senses there is peace,
A dreamy peace on either hand,
Deep silence in the shadowy land,
Deep silence where the shadows cease.


Save for a cry that echoes shrill
From some lone bird disconsolate;
A corncrake calling to its mate;
The answer from the misty hill.


And suddenly the moon withdraws
Her sickle from the lightening skies,
And to her sombre cavern flies,
Wrapped in a veil of yellow gauze.

My family is from Ireland. I've dual EU/US citizenship and in my lifetime, have seen from the eyes of a child - from my first of many vacations to this beautiful country -- the vast differences between European sensibilities and how they differ from the US when it comes to taking care of their own and looking out for one another. You see, not only is there a premium placed upon the Life of the Mind, but the healthcare system there was built on a shared sense of civility and compassion, of neighborhood and true conversation.

We lost my mom, she died at too young an age here in the States, where she proudly became a US citizen many years ago (I remember her having to study tedious details of US history and civics to pass her test) and her home. She came from a large family where many still reside in Ireland and England. Yes, she had good doctors but sometimes that's never enough.

Her older sister, the matriarh of the family estate, has died this week from inoperable lung cancer which spread rapidly within a short time of the diagnosis, she passed away in her sleep. She was the maverick in the family; her glorious roses, the life of the party, my strong and beautiful aunt with the sharp-tongued wit who defied any and all things pretentious and frustraneous, who my mother did always say yours truly should have been named for. Her ashes will be scattered, being the first in the family to evade the plot, from centuries ago on the hill. But that was her way - always leaping forward, dancing steps beyond the crowd -- never content to hide her individuality and is her way, Out of What Began this alliance with Nature to break the blue, to return in flight.

Bidh mi 'gad fhaicinn

-M.