I knew @blogofinnocence by his alias Lethe Bashar. I’m most inspired by his style, his honesty in articulating and expressing his views and analysis in art and life. In our brief time we converse through blog posts, comments, and poetry (he is the one person who get me really interested in poetry, to be honest). As he connects to other through art, I connected to him through buddhism – it is a very invigorating experience.
In the past few months, I have been wondering where he’d gone because he is usually very active on the net. I was a little bit afraid that the darkness would consume him as I feel that it was in there from our exchange of thoughts, but because I never knew him at personal level, I never asked the question. He left me a message before saying he will respond to my latest comment, but never did.
Weeks passed, and today I received a DM from his twitter account – @VinaMist notified me that Chris (lethe’s real name) had passed away a month ago. I was just at Taste Of Melbourne, in rapture after savouring the myriad of beautiful food and wine in that place. To receive news of death at such a joyous occasion is a new experience to me.
To be honest I feel for him, not many people connects to others with that amount of sincerity. He connects to people through his work – I feel that had he not died, he would have contributed greatly to the world of literature. He invited me once to converse over Skype, I wished I had taken that opportunity while it was still knocking on my door. But such is life, I guess.
I don’t think that the news ruined the experience. I accept that this is the nature of things, that for every beginning there is an end. At the back of my mind I wanted to know, how did he passed away? But for me who is on the other side of the world, and with no means to find out, it is a no-question. I will never know. And so I let go of the question and appreciate what little is left.
Lethe, this will be my final poetry for you. May you rest in peace, my friend.
The Day Turned
With eyes open I stepped outside;
on the pond was the moon,
reflected.
Darkness falls, the day is gone
and the sun’s warmth in my heart,
remembered.