There is no evidence of the soul except in its sudden absence. A nothingness enters, taking the place where something was before. A night without sta… - Bruce Springsteen

There is no evidence of the soul except in its sudden absence. A nothingness enters, taking place where something was before.

It would not all be easy sailing from here on, but modern pharmacological medicine gave my father ten extra years of life and a peace he might never have had. He and my mother got to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. He got to know his grandchildren and we became much closer. He became easier to reach, to know and love.

It’s hard to imagine that Clarence was once a normal person, a college student, football player and bespectacled counselor at the Jamesburg State Home for Boys. He had a face that would look at home at any point in history. It was the face of an exotic emperor, an island king, a heavyweight boxer, a shaman, a chain-gang convict, a fifties bluesman and a deep soul survivor. It held one million secrets and none at all.

It ain’t no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin