In these times, there is so much to grieve. The losses mount up and sometimes it seems as if we will never be able to recover a sense of equilibrium. For those fortunate enough to not be suffering loss or just unaware, it can be difficult to understand the nature of this overwhelming experience. Our Orcas Island Choral Society took on a most difficult challenge this year, and committed to the monumental task of learning and performing Mozart’s unfinished masterpiece Requiem. We, who were blessed to be there and witness the outpouring, will never forget it and are grateful to each member’s dedication, and to Roger Sherman’s, director, belief that they could do it. Congratulations to all for your fine work. Included here is a poem I wrote in honor of their efforts.

Always, with gratitude for the music and to those who make it come alive.

Requiem

just before he died

he popped open his head hatch

and poured out

pages of black dots

one more impossible intricacy

puzzle pieces fitting together just so

bought and paid for

but never finished

performed for the first time

at his funeral

and now more than 200 years later

our little town choir

transformed the black dots into

glorious sound

that illuminated utterly

the darkness

of grief

Susan Osborn

Orcas Island