And now for something completely different...

I have lost a lot of people in my life over the years. Four to HIV. Some to cancer. Others to the various ways nature weeds down the populous. It hurts when friends loose a special person in their life. Someone once gave me a poem by an anonymous poet (or at least they didn't know who wrote it) that gave me perspective on death as a "transition".

Do not stand by my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am a diamond glint of snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awake in the morning, hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starshine at night.

Do not stand by my grave and cry.
I am not there.
I did not die.