Esther, On the Road Again

Tonight we lost the matriarch of the Swertfeger family. There will be no memorial service, no viewing, no formalities. That is the way she wanted things to be. Once in conversation Esther mentioned that she wanted Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" played after she was gone.

That is how she lived her life, always planning for the next journey she would take. Even though her vision was deteriorated a 30-day bus passes was as good as gold in her hand. On one trip she returned to Portland and arrived at the bus depot at 5am. She decided it was too early to wake someone up so she hopped a bus to Seattle for something to kill the time.

In her last days, after suffering from hunger and thirst, she determined it would be best to sleep away the days. She was at peace in bed tonight when she went.

We will miss the mother and grandmother she was and look back on her life and perhaps grin a little when next we hear Willie Nelson proclaim, "and I just can't wait to get on the road again."

"On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again."

"On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again."

"On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way."

- Willie Neslon

Quoting Poetry

Esther is on her last legs, and she is enjoying quoting her poems for anyone that visits her. I have heard the same poems many, many times now, but it's still a delight to watch the faces of others as she quotes them a poem from memory that they have not heard before. Here is one of her favorites:

The last stanza from "Thanatopsis" (View on Death in Greek)by William Cullen Bryant

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch so
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.

A hospice volunteer, Melody, came to spend an hour with Esther and was so moved by the poetry that the next time she came to see her she told her that from now on she was going to view the work she did with patients differently and incorporate some of the poetry into what she does. Esther had a profound effect on her. She even came back with her teenage daughter so she could meet her.
That was a nice plus for Esther, to be appreciated.