Torchbearers

What do we do when those whom we love leave us? When death so cruelly robs us of a majestic, wonderful human life? We are so impermanent, so fragile and susceptible; we are truly like the stars, burning brightly for only a time before our light is gone.  Those departed leave a chasm, a massive empty space. The world feels smaller, quieter, somehow less. It can never be as it was before, a chapter has concluded. 
Yet the journey continues. Our journey. And in this might I suggest we can pay fitting tribute to those that have gone quietly into the night. The dead remain with us in so many ways. In the memory we have of them, in the lessons they imparted, and in the case of kin they leave us with the DNA code from which our lives were so remarkably forged. It's true to say that the world can seem dimmer when we are bereaved; for a time all seems faded and jaded and surreal. Yet with the passage of time can come a new dawn, the brute pain of raw grief ebbing into something less brutal. Incredibly, there comes a day when we can even smile when pondering the lives of those we cherished, and share warm tales with the others who shared this world with them. 
We are the torchbearers now. This is the role we now assume. As the generations pass the torch passes, and we can honor the departed by living lives that are rich and meaningful and impassioned. I sometimes think that when we fail in this we dishonor those who gave us our lives in the first place. Do we really appreciate the immensity of what they have given? Before we lived all was darkness, whilst what awaits beyond death is known by no man. Therefore our task is clear; we must awaken each morning and inhale deeply, vowing to wring every drop out of life that we can. This is our time in the sun, that brief awakening when we can see, feel, touch and explore the riches all around us. We owe it to ourselves to do this. More than that, we owe it to those whom we have loved and cherished and lost. They were beautiful, but they are gone. You are beautiful, yet you remain. Live powerfully, torchbearers. May the sun warm you, may life enrich you, and when the day comes to pass the torch on, perhaps we can do so knowing that we gave our all.