Laura Sandage: Listen

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

Michael Samson contributes a stellar piano accompaniment, and the OK Chorale provides the soft angel choir at the end. The story came from a woman I met through my Yolo Hospice volunteer work.

I SAY GOOD-BYE

Fran passed away, fading like thunder
My son tells me now, he's selling this place
Each breaking dawn opens up wonder
The holes in my life are as fragile as lace

chorus
And I say good-bye once again
Good-bye to a home, good-bye to a friend
Good-bye to the sunlight as my day starts to dim
My life sings good-bye like an old-fashioned hymn

The losses stack up like harmony voices
Like alto and tenor they layer and blend
The organ's deep tones, like Time's cruel choices
Startle my heart as it struggles to mend

chorus

I wonder what use I have on this Earth
As all that I cherish rises to leave
It could be a promise was made at my birth
That this time around I would learn how to grieve

chorus

Behold the lilies of the field
They neither toil nor sow, toil nor sow
Yet God does all things needful yield
That they may live and grow, may live and grow