A friend sent me this. I think it is beautiful........
Letter to Nan
I wish you were here with me.
I wish you were sitting beside me on the shaded balcony, drinking tea and talking about the world.
And then you'd say lets go for a walk, and I'd take your hand, leading you through the secret narrow gate and along the narrow damp path, between high walls. And out into the rice fields, balancing on grass banks between the paddies, inhaling the smell of frangipani and warm wet mud.
We'd watch the ducks on patrol, seeking out bugs and fertilising crops as they go. A rush of ducklings sliding and scrambling up, up the bank and splashing into the next paddy, excited at the fresh feast waiting for them, and desperate to not be the last one there.
We'd sit under a tree, relishing the cool shade from a relentless sun, and savouring every breath of breeze.
We'd move on, stopping to watch a tiny hummingbird, bright scarlet against the green, hover and bow before a flower before drinking her fill of sweet nectar. In the tangle of bushes we'd find a small statue, dark and mossy with time, sheltering under a golden parasol. We'd watch butterflies and dragonflies and let them lead us on down another path. The indignant blurp of a frog plopping into a ditch, disturbed by our careless feet. Insects rattling, dogs barking, roosters crowing, children crying and water, always water, trickling and gushing, flowing and rushing.
As dusk fell, a light would draw us towards a tiny warung in the fields, gamelan playing on the tinny stereo. We'd eat as the colour disappeared from the world and the crickets started their evening symphony.
Then we'd trace our way back by torchlight, soaking up the sounds of quietness. We'd come back along the narrow damp path and back through the narrow secret gate.
And in the soft yellow light of the garden lamp you'd smile, that soft wistful smile, and say, in your soft low voice, almost a whisper, Wasn't that splendid.
I wish you were here with me.
Your body is gone, like a rice husk on a soft warm breeze.
But I feel your soul sitting beside me, and I hear your voice whispering to me.
I'm glad you're here with me.