Janet

For Janet, from whom love flowed without ever pausing, to whom I dedicate this page, who embraced life with a zeal and a giggle. Near the end of your life, you watched your son get married, laughed with your friends, dressed up for Halloween, met your potential future in-laws, held your loved ones close; and with determination and against the odds, you had swum in a volcanic crater, glided across a zip wire, and done horseback riding. You were truly LIVING the months up to your going to heaven, not dying as many had feared.
Janet, when I read this poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye, I think of you. You are the energy, the love, the happiness, the laughter. You are life.
 

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
 
In my language, the poem may say:

Xin em đừng khóc bên mộ tôi.

Tôi đã bay xa, tôi đâu nằm yên giấc.
Tôi là gió thổi, là mây bay,
Là lóng lánh kim cương trên tuyết trắng,
Là ánh sáng mặt trời trên lúa non.
Tôi là mưa mùa thu rơi nhè nhẹ.
Khi em tỉnh dậy bình minh còn yên tĩnh,
Thấy những con chim tung cánh bay—
Đó là tôi rạo rực chuyến dạo chơi.
Tôi là ngôi sao chiếu sáng ban đêm.
Em ơi đừng khóc bên mộ tôi.
Tôi đâu có đó, tôi vẫn còn đây.
 
I thought I’d be crying, but I’m smiling. The sadness is there, but I feel a peace that is passed down from above, telling me you are free from pain and you are on a fun journey.

Dedicated to Janet Vo, who died on Christmas Eve 2013.