this town...

This town has seen much recently

Warm sunny days that made us dream about swimming
iced over days that made us beg for warmth
rainy days
wildly stormy days that shredded our already battered forests
a temperature range of 66 degrees in the last month

and that's about what it was like to remember Zack today.

we laughed, we cried and every little pit stop in between the two
a friend said "I've felt the entire range of emotions this week"

and still there are snow drops

Zack's mom said this was his home now,
he belonged in Kentucky
when he was visiting his old home
in Oakland last
he found it too loud
too bright
and missed a tinier place
she said

his drumming teacher said
his heart goes out
to the family
and close friends
but more
to those who never got the chance to meet this sunbeam

a friend of his said that he was like a shooting star
with a trail so bright
we all wanted more

I agree

but I think he was maybe more like a firecracker
because he touched a lot of people

not only was he planning to find the carbon footprint
of the city of berea this summer
it turns out,
but he was planning a trip to
Argentina
and a million other small journeys
on the way to healing
people and the earth

wow.

We sang I'll fly away and planted the first tree
in the orchard he was designing
friends gave him a zombies vs. humans
nurf gun salute
his family thanked everyone for loving him
saying that he was so bright
because of this place and the community he found here

they were so amazingly grateful
that they got to have him for so much of his life
and that when he left
he landed in a place like this

which reminds me that,
yes,
there is [a long] winter
but it brings snowdrops

and then there is spring

I wish Zack Sieben more than a peaceful resting place.

I wish him
an earth thumping-drum pounding,
wild dancing,
justice seeking,
green and growing,
place to be

we will carry his passion...
as soon as we've all had a bit of sleep

I snuggle in tonight
knowing that spring will come
and then there will be dancing.