Denny (Not one I wanted to write)
Returned to the ocean
the solace of grief,
erasing old footprints
of sorrow and joy.
Your wind driven grace
on the wave struck shore.
Adios.
Don
On May 27, 2017, at 11:56 AM, Louis MacKenzie wrote:
On the heels of Don’s and Betty’s moving words about Dennis and the sea, I am taken to those of France’s greatest poet, Charles Baudelaire, who opens his “Man and the Sea” with the following:
“Free man, always will you be drawn to the sea!
The sea is your mirror; you contemplate your soul
In the unceasing rolling of its waves […]
(my translation)
ps.I am sure you have all seen the piece Dennis wrote for Notre Dame Magazine last Spring. If not, here is the link: https://magazine.nd.edu/news/65768/
Captain Electric
On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 1:37 PM, Elizabeth Doerr wrote:
No surprise you would choose the water’s edge to leave, sit in a beach chair with the roar of the waves your last sound. In Oregon you joked about selling the sand, just the right bottles, hipster typography. Coulda sold it at the Farmer’s Market and they would have bought it, you said. Wouldn’t even know that some things are free. Sometimes there’s no place left to go but the ocean.
On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 8:59 AM, Don Hynes <donhynes@cnnw.net> wrote:
Bardo Time
It’s been three days now
as you pilot to the other side.
You took off like a rocket
but the soul slows down
to the speed of life
without a body.
You’ve got a lot to ponder
but plenty of time.
You didn’t want to say goodbye
but we all must,
confused, distraught,
and with tears to guide you.
You ran out of fuel
and there’s no way
you’d ride without style.
Not sure if there are bass guitars
or corvettes over there
but I feel you honing in
on the welcome you deserve.
You cut the board straight
and played the music,
laughed at all the fools
and kept time for the band
in your fearless register.
You can lay down arms brother
but the journey’s far from over.
10-4 good buddy.
Let’s stay in touch.
Don Hynes
John Flemming and Dennis Lopez
On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 9:06 PM, Joe Brennan wrote:
Denny’s Passing Shocked sadness An absence of joy The thought of never seeing, talking, joking again A bright light that shone for 50+years of friendship extinguished We all share the tragic loss Knowing the charm, wit, humor and humanity of our departed brother, May our shared memories sustain us thru this trying time Dennis, may you find peace I love you and miss you
I would like to include a poem that Donna wrote last night:
Inside Tears
Obscured
within shrouded layers
of bewilderment and grief,
there is rendered
for the spirit
a balm, in the knowing
that a certain terrible suffering
has ended;
a balm,
luminous and completing:
a light
inside the tears.d.m. thibodeaux
c. 2017
From: “Jack Lavelle”
We’re all poleaxed by this…this intolerable loss. I love reading how Dennis’ friends choose to share a few words. Mine are sad, of course:
For Dennis Lopez
His face is smeared in my memory, illumined by subway light.
I see him grinning through chicken-wire glass, the kind they use in emergency exits.
Our friendship was a kind of emergency exit.
We tried, but couldn’t be real friends.
We were both so confused, we tried to be so calculating.
We aimed conversation at each other, missing more often than not.
We were from the same place, sort of.
Our dads had been acquainted
Or so I was told.
Everything was at least arms-length.
Neither allowed anyone closer.
Jack Lavelle
From: Louis MacKenzie
“Un seul être vous manque et tout est dépeuplé (Lamartine). “One person is gone and the world is empty.” Denny was–and still is–one of those larger than life, almost mythic, souls. But larger than life sometimes is bruised and beaten by life. Maybe that’s what we mean by tragic. Our world is a paler place without “Lobo,” without his smile, his laugh from the depths, his zaniness, his music and, dare I say, his struggles. Peace be yours, my friend. Louis