Winter 2008
Issue

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Mary Beth Doyle
1961-2004

MB: Personal Rememberances

Letter to Mary Beth Doyle concerning her conspicuous absence from her wake

February/March Issue, 2006

Dear Mary Beth,

You should have been there. In fact, I kept looking for your face, each time reminding myself that, of course, you couldn’t make it.

But, Mary Beth, you really should have. You would have loved it.

So many of your friends were there. And, being the woman you are, the array of folks (your friends) was wondrous, almost otherworldly.

We made our own music.The music pounded. The dancing was ecstatic. There was more delicious food than could be eaten and any pettiness minor or major had been shoved aside, elbowedout of the way through sheer force of joy and the awareness of how much we all needed and loved each other.

No one wanted to stop because stopping would have meant that it was over and no one wanted it to be over.

Ah, Mary Beth, there was so much happiness and generosity, so much vibrant beauty and life there last night. You would have been utterly in your element.

In fact, the only thing missing was you.

-- Dick Siegel

“Someone’s Crossing Over”

someone’s crossing over
look up in the sky
I sit here beside you now and listen to you cry
why’s she crossing over
god why her why now
as she makes her way across the ceiling of the world somehow

someone’s crossing over
love is torn apart
I sit here beside you now and listen to your heart
oh she was so sweet and young
how could they allow
as she makes her way across the ceiling of the world somehow

someone’s crossing over
but you’re still here with me
I’ll help you remember her and share this misery
oh you’re right there is no justice
and no reason now
as she makes her way across the ceiling of the world somehow

and the living river flows
heaven only knows
how to hold on to her and let her go

someone’s crossing over
look up in the sky
I sit here beside you now and watch her passing by
we will only see her now
when our hearts allow
as she makes her way across the ceiling of the world somehow

we will only see her now
when our hearts allow
as she makes her way across the ceiling of the world somehow

-- Dick Siegel

I wrote “Someone’s Crossing Over” several years ago. It was inspired by the death of a young man we knew. When I was asked to sing it at Mary Beth’s memorial I decided to change the lyrics to be appropriate for a woman’s death. At first I was reluctant to alter the song at all. I was afraid it might lose something in the change. But when I began practicing it with he’s turned to she’s and him’s to her’s I realized it was right and that Mary Beth became real to me as I sang it that way.

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