09/04/2026
Thanks to Reya Mellicker for reminding me of this poem by Wendell Berry, who just made his transition to the spirit world. I hope he checks in from the Other Side soon.
The loved ones we call the dead
depart from us and for a while
are absent. And then as if
called back by our love, they come
near us again. They enter our dreams.
We feel they have been near us
when we have not thought of them.
They are simply here, simply waiting
while we are distracted among
our obligations. At last
it comes to us: They live now
in the permanent world.
We are the absent ones.
—Wendell Berry
