Aidan Power 1947 ~ 2008
Dear Friend,
It doesn’t seem like four years since you left us in such a frantic hurry.I recall that Tuesday getting the call from your sister Phyllis, who had noticed your curtains drawn late into the afternoon,
And driving from my job to your house.Waiting outside in the car watching the comings and goings of ambulance personnel and Gardai, as the awful truth of your departure dawned.How could the welcoming, always open door of your house lead to such a dreadful scene ?
Your lifeless body cold and alone on the landing at the top of the stairs.That was an awful day Aidan, the realisation that you were gone and the inexplicable manner of your departure.Numbed is the word people use to describe indescribable grief, I wasn’t numbed but felt every pang of heartache and despair as the ending of your sweet life swept over me like a murky floodwater.You spent your days striving to do the right thing by God, by your family, and your friends, in fact by anyone who needed a helping hand.Your days spent probing the Scriptures and seeking God’s face.Reconciling the theory of Christian doctrine with the reality of how to work it out in the world.
You stumbled as we all do, but more often than most, you showed the character of your Master in the life you lived.
Today my old friend I trust you are resting in Jesus’ everlasting arms.
Home at last and at peace.
And driving from my job to your house.Waiting outside in the car watching the comings and goings of ambulance personnel and Gardai, as the awful truth of your departure dawned.How could the welcoming, always open door of your house lead to such a dreadful scene ?
Your lifeless body cold and alone on the landing at the top of the stairs.That was an awful day Aidan, the realisation that you were gone and the inexplicable manner of your departure.Numbed is the word people use to describe indescribable grief, I wasn’t numbed but felt every pang of heartache and despair as the ending of your sweet life swept over me like a murky floodwater.You spent your days striving to do the right thing by God, by your family, and your friends, in fact by anyone who needed a helping hand.Your days spent probing the Scriptures and seeking God’s face.Reconciling the theory of Christian doctrine with the reality of how to work it out in the world.
You stumbled as we all do, but more often than most, you showed the character of your Master in the life you lived.
Today my old friend I trust you are resting in Jesus’ everlasting arms.
Home at last and at peace.
Gerry
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Thanks to Aidan's brother Philip who sent me the following piece of his abiding memory of Aidan.
In the twilight glow I see him
Aidan Sleeping in his chair.
As we said good-bye and parted,
I knew we'd never talk again.
Aidan Sleeping in his chair.
As we said good-bye and parted,
I knew we'd never talk again.
Love is like a dying ember.
Where only memories remain.
Through the ages I'll remember-
Aidan sleeping in his chair
Now my hair has turned to silver.
All my life I've loved in vain.
I can see his star in heaven.
Aidan sleeping in his chair
Someday when we meet up yonder,
We'll stroll together once again.
In a land that knows no parting-
Aidan sleeping in his chair
(after the song by Fred Rose)
9 comments:
Hi Gerry,
Thanks for the piece on Aidan. What I provided comes from:
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is a song written by songwriter Fred Rose.
Willie Nelson made a hit with it & it made his career.
Queen Victoria said it takes 6 years to get over the loss of a loved one, but I will never get over Aidan.
Your website asks, "Please prove you're not a robot."
Well I can tell you, Gerry that I am not; but I have discovered many robots in the past 4 years. Robots don't have feelings!
It was my Job Experience and I have learnt deep truths from it!
"Touch Me"
Touch me; touch the hand of a man
Who once owned the entire world.
And touch me, touch the arms
That once had the friendship
Of one of the world's sweetest men
Touch me, maybe someday you may
Need to know how it feels when you lose
And so touch me, you'll know
How you feel with the blues
Watch me, watch the eyes
That have seen all the heartache
And pain in the land
And be thankful you're happy though
Standing so close to the world's bluest man
Don't forget me, take a good look
At someone who's lost everything he can lose
And then touch me and you'll know
How you'd feel with the blues
Don't forget me, take a good long look...
(adapted from Willie Nelson’s song)
REMEMBER ME
Remember me when the candle lights are gleaming.
Remember me at the close of a long, long day.
An' it would be so sweet when all alone, I'm sleeping',
Just to know you still remember me.
A brighter face may take my place when we're apart,
Another friend, with a heart more bold and free.
But in the end, fair-weather friends may depart,
An' if they do, friend, remember me.
Remember me when the candle lights are gleaming'.
Remember me at the close of a long, long day.
An' it would be so sweet when all alone, I'm sleeping',
Just to know you still remember me.
Just to know you still remember me.
(adapted from Willie Nelson’s song)
Aidan’s undying song of love.
Twilight falls, ev'ning shadows find,
There beneath the stars, Aiden, so afraid, depressed.
Lonely there he kneels, and tells the stars above
In his heart is a song, and there it belongs:
His undying song of love.
Every word reveals an empty broken heart
Broken by fate that held friends so far apart.
Stars on high, seem to know he's there.
In his heart is a song, an' there it belongs:
His undying song of love.
(adapted from Willie Nelson’s song)
Yes Gerry
We all remember Aiden a Man with a gentle and loving spirit ,a good example of a new creation in Christ ….
Regards
You describe Aidan well Ger, for he was the finest Christian I knew and I miss him!
Gerry,
The worst horrors come without warning. The most brutal shocks are those for which you are least prepared. And although, I knew what the death of siblings was like, nothing could have prepared me for Aidan’s sudden death. I had lost Breda and then Paddy in quick succession in 2006 and then Maria went swiftly in 2007. I was dazed by it all and so I faced 2008 thinking that I would have some time to grieve their passing. But as you write, Aidan’s sudden death caught us all by surprise and we were sad, angry and confused. Life would never be the same again. Darkness set in and clouded our lives; we would never be the same again.
The years pass by and all we have are unanswered questions. It’s a lonelier place without Aidan. We were “sons of thunder” and it was never quiet where the two of us were together. You often ran for the door to escape the “heavy trips” we would have on points of doctrine, but Aidan never held a grudge and we would resume our friendship as if nothing had happened. Why? We were BLOOD! Nothing could separate us; nothing could diminish the fact that we were BROTHERS! And as I have told you before, it is the same with our spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:31-39; 12:1-21).
Pip
Hi Gerry,
You forgot to put the Power Family motto under Aidan's name:
Per crucem ad coronam
By the Cross to the Crown.
I think it speaks volumes in Aidan's case.
CLOSURE
“My life closed twice, before its close”
Said Aidan in his prime,
But closure happens many ways,
And comes at many times.
At birth the cord is severed,
The start requires an end,
Cut off, a form of closure,
Allows you to begin.
But how to shut the mental door,
And close out endless sound?
Or is the whispered still small voice
Heard through the noise around?
How do you close a painful wound,
Caused by friends on edge
Whose jagged way of loving
Has pushed you to the ledge?
How do you finish efforts
Abandoned by those you trust,
Your heart’s no longer in it
But finishing’s a must?
How do you turn the page,
And let bygones be gone,
And realize moving forward,
Requires you’re moving on?
Completion, finished ending
The longing for the goal,
But what if its perfection,
That finally makes us whole?
The letting go, the giving in,
The learning to release,
Is half the key to living,
And half the key to peace.
A person can be measured
By closures on the way,
And by the One who carried him
Upon his dying day.
The Alpha and Omega Man
Is where all endings lead
If we’re enclosed within his grasp,
It’s all the end we need.
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