To Ease the Passing of Time

Not long before he died my friend from Nova Scotia told me that his grandfather who could hardly walk asked him to take him for a walk. The old man walked very slowly holding on to his cane with one hand and to my friend’s arm with the other. They crossed the field where the flowers were blooming and the birds were singing. The soft wind carried the perfume of the flowers in the air and the butterflies were flying gracefully from the daisies to the lilies. The clear water was flowing gently through the rocks in the stream in the middle of the field.

When they got to the rugged cliffs at the end of the field, the old man stood there for a long time. White seagulls were flying high and there were only a few white clouds scattered in the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful day in May. My friend said that he saw tears rolling down his grandfather’s cheeks as he was looking down at the waves endlessly hitting the rocks as they have been doing for millions of years. He didn’t wipe the tears; he just let the wind dry them.

“I just wanted to fill my eyes and my soul with the beauties of nature before I’m no longer able to see them", said the old man as he slowly turned his back to the sea to go back home. A few days later, my friend’s grandfather was taken to the hospital in Sydney where he died at the end of June.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0aDL-H-D54