To Tim, an epitaph

His perception seemed to go into slow motion. What was happening?
His emotions were ringing with life
but it was so intense that his heart started thudding,
shuddering quicker and irregularly,
his heart was under attack, in seizure, then he fell into a blank.

A beautiful blank, a timeless blank, filled with light,
through which he found himself glowing, flowing up, up and away in a balloon.
Gravity was gone, worries were gone.

Then he heard a lingering sound, the sound of the primordial Om,
the sound of creation and eternity.
He cruised towards this greeting of welcome.
When he looked down from his balloon he saw he was over the familiar setting of Paris where lived all his wonderful cool friends,
then the balloon carried on South to his precious land of Ciotat
where he saw the lovely smiling face of his Isabelle and his brother François.
Then he crossed the sea, towards England,
years falling off his shoulders and face, rejuvenating him.
He called out with joy, “Hey-hey-he-he, get off of my cloud.”

Because dying is the moment we appreciate the sum of our life.
Any negative experiences had been as valuable as the pleasant ones for his soul.
His curiosity ripened. He wanted to explore his new mystical realm.
Great anticipation seized him as he flew on into a magnificent orange, yellow and lime sunset, and as he entered this sunset,
all the anxiety that he ever experienced disintegrated, and he felt euphorically free.
Far freer than any drugs or alcohol had ever made him feel.
And then the Om changed into strains of music, “Sea, sex and sun.”
The sound attracted him and then all around him,
translucent, rainbow-tinged clouds appeared
and when he moved focus onto these puffs of musical vibrations,
out came all the songs he loved, “Imagine all the people living for today,”

and “All that glitters is gold and he’s buying a stairway to Heaven.”

Tim was being transported back in musical time, creating his own personalised Seventh Heaven.

Seventh Heaven, Seven Perceptions