dear family and friends of tom, i just found out about tom's death and even though i haven't seem him since our SMC days in 1968, i remember him well. he was someone of action who always was committed to be in the fray of life, giving all he could for people. reading his obituary shows he never stopped wroking, caring, and giving. i will keep tom in my thoughts and music. i wrote most of this poem with a few opening lines from the hopi people for my parents. now it is for tom and all of us to remember and keep him with us. in spirit and music, royal hartigan HOPI PRAYER FROM OUR ANCESTORS, FOR OUR ANCESTORS words form the hopi people of southwest native america and royal hartigan 1999 do not stand at my grave and weep, i am not there i do not sleep i am a thousand winter winds that blow, i am the diamond glints on snow i am the summer’s sun on the ripened grain, i am the gentle autumn’s rain i am harvest leaves of red and orange and gold, i am the life force of all beings, great and small, fleeting and eternal, young and old i am mountain meadows of brown and tan and green, i am the inner secret shadow spirits of all things, visible and unseen i am the dawning dew in may’s blooming mist, i am the heartbeat of your dreams kissed i am the sounds of music and dance and song from up on high, i am the clouds in an endless sky when you awaken in the morning’s quiet hush, i am the swift uplifting rush of birds in circled flight i am the soft stars that shine on a moonlit night so do not stand at my grave and cry, i am not there, i did not die _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and as before, wherever you go i am with you near or far, and wherever i walk on the paths of this long cold night of life without you, you are right here with me, inside my heart a mirror for each others’ souls through time and space we are one, and someday yet again we will be whole as we awaken together in the evening’s midnight sun as we awaken together in the evening’s midnight sun and we’ll dance with spirits deep, sing the whole way through, we’ll laugh at life’s old ills, and to each other be true, as we awaken together in the evening’s midnight sun in the evening’s midnight sun we are one we are one we are one all one all one all beyond forever we will be with you, tom, always