A week ago, a man died and left a hole in the Jewish community. He always questioned whether he was a “good Jew” when in truth he was a mentch. He was a friend and never saw the mark he left on the people around him. He often spoke about his travels and his boats. He died quietly and left few to mourn him, as a form of eulogy we offer a thought from an unknown mariner:
I watched a sail until it dropped from sight
Over the rounding sea. A gleam of white,
A last far-flashed farewell, and, like a thought
Slipped out of mind, it vanished and was not.
Yet to the helmsman standing at the wheel
Broad seas still stretched beneath the gliding keel.
Disaster? Change? He felt no slightest sign,
Nor dreamed he of that far horizon line.
So may it be, perchance, when down the tide
Our dear ones vanish, peacefully they glide
On level seas, nor mark the unknown bound.
We call it death – to them tis life beyond.