On Sunday morning he wrote a piece
about suffering, memory and the
heart-rending music of Samuel Barber’s
Adagio and then in the evening,
around the pond and waterfall,
he listened to Susannah McCorkle on
the outside speakers and was moment-
arily transported back just a few
weeks to driving up and across Arizona
and then straight across New Mexico
on Route 60 to, among other great jazz
lines, “I don’t want to set the world
on fire; I just want to start a flame
in your heart.” He stared into the
flames of the fire pit for a moment
and then at his wife whose face glowed
in the firelight. They caught each
other’s eye and smiled the smile of
deep knowing and gratitude. He started
to cry again but for very different
and equally important reasons.