Memorial Tribute(Eulogy)

Memorial Tribute Spoken By Myself At Harmony's Funeral

          Thankyou all for being here today to help celebrate Harmonys' life and to mourn her passing.There is no one sure place from which to start because I'm sure that for many here it seems as if Harmony has always been a part of our lives. Looking back it is difficult to imagine how we lived before her, looking forward it is impossible to imagine our lives after her.
          Harmony stood for many things, believed in them with her whole self and I would like to remind us all of them now so that we may take these things and keep them and use them daily. If we do not honor her by learning from her then we have destroyed one of her truest dreams: to become a teacher.
          Harmony believed in unconditional, unbending, fierce love. Loving people to the point where they know without a doubt that they were first in her heart and saying "I love you" without restraint.
          She believed in forgiveness and humility.She was always aware of others' feelings, put herself in others shoes many time, forgave many peoples' transgressions simply because she loved them.
          Harmony believed in God.Not the god of any church or doctrine but the god that is part of all of us,the god that we cry to in the middle of the night when we are alone and scared.The god that is without pretense and formality.The god of her own understanding.
          Harmony believed in doing.She believed in putting her best foot forward and getting the job done.We look at her today and see the plans she had made for her life that were so tragically interrupted, but we must also look past that to all that she had already accomplished. Not only had she put her own life in motion but she nudged, pulled and sometimes physically forced many of ours in the right direction also.
          Harmony believed in helping others. Not only did she believe in this but she lived her life for this.She touched so many people in her 21 years, changed so many lives, healed so many wounds, simply by being herself.I know that a multitude of people here and absent considered Harmony their best frined. I know that she was my best friend.
          Most of all Harmony believed in laughter.She was a constant reminder not to take life too seriously. She was the funniest person that I have ever met. There are no memories that I have of her that are not riddled with sarcastic comments, hidden inuendos and outright comedy. She never let anything pass by if it could be made into something funny.She was definetely comic relief, and I know that we will all feel that absence when we remember her. But with her laughter and sense of humor she taught us all to put things in perspective and to look at the lighter side. She would agree that even in death and grief there is laughter and hope.
          There are many things that Harmony stood for in each of our heart that we will have to discover or rediscover for ourselves. Each of us must take something away from here today that will make us stronger, better. We must each grieve for her in our own way, even if it is a way that we don't yet understand .
         } It is hard to fathom why this could happen to such a bright, shining star, the center of so many peoples' universe, the best of us. My son asked me why God took Aunt Harmony to heaven and all I could say was that He must have needed more teachers for the children,this is my way of understanding. I simply cannot cope with it any other way.No matter her how much we all feel that we needed her here, she was needed that much more elsewhere.

          Now I would like to read and adaptation of a poem that I believe tells our grief better than I am able:

Twelve Songs

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message She is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East, my West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
She was my noon, my midnight, my talk, my song:
I thought She would last forever. I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

>W.H. Auden (adaptation by V.M.)