I wrote this for Bob using characters from Donna Lamb's Blue Moon and Green Sun:
Indigo Sky
by Donna Lamb and Erin Halfelven
They found Arnie slumped over a keyboard, electronics gear piled on shelves around him. He'd been working at home, trying a remix of the Girlfriend song. "I want to get the feeling we all had just before the crowd went wild," he'd said. It was the kind of thing he did in his spare time.
Melody cried and Richard held her and his eyes were wet, too. Kylie let Bugs hold her so no one could see the tears that dripped into his mustache. Lemon blew his nose with a completely original sound, like a sad and lonely bugle on a beautiful hill far away. Gogie stared out a window his eyes bright; not crying, but as if he were looking for something. The new girl, Elspeth, wanted to hear what Arnie had done with the tracks. "I'll bet it was brilliant," she said, her voice breaking a bit.
In a lonely private bar in the Hellish city of Pandemonium, Sophie Drake lifted a glass of chocolate cordial. "Another one got away, Bill," she said to the bartender who kept his face in his armpit. "Again," she added, after a sip.
"Sick transit galore a-Monday," agreed Bill C. Bubb, polishing a glass with his foot long black tongue. "There's a lot of that going around."
On the observation deck in a Heavenly lounge reserved for returning senior agents, Ted O'Mersey grinned his crooked Elizabethan grin. "Ginnie!" he called to the blonde angel at the railing. "Welcome back!"
She lifted her glass at him, smiling but not turning away from the panorama. "I never get tired of the view from here," she said quietly. "And after more than fifty years, it's good to be back." They stood together for a bit, not saying anything just watching. Clouds below mostly hid the Earth but the vault above was full of stars in the deep purplish daylight sky of Heaven.
At a table in a corner of the lounge, Dar Gmunro, the enormous African wizard and ruler of Limbo Dnuro explained to a crocodile godlet how to eat a Fatburger. "Not all to the once. Too much never enough can be. Letting your teeth relish the savor of the essence is masterhood." He demonstrated, finishing one of the double half-pounders in five bites. "Ow," he said. "Finger biting your own the optional becomes."
Ginnie and Ted overheard and laughed. "I never can understand him," she said. "But he's funny."
The quirk of a Heavenly wind brought them the sound of music.
In Burbank, on Earth, I-NO-Y played a memorial jam in Melody Jo's private studio. Elspeth took Arnie's place at the soundboard. Richard played the drums, steady with the left hand and an intricate soft stacatto with the right. Melody danced her fingers on two keyboards at once. Lemon invented harmonies with a silver saxophone. Bugs and Kylie stood face to face, guitar to guitar, just strumming, not picking. Gogie sat at the other drum kit wearing his shades, snapping his fingers and singing scat.
In Heaven, Ginnie lifted her voice.
I look up and see the stars
Shining in an Indigo Sky.
We're all made of Stardust,
I don't want to feel alone.
Life is made for joy,
Love is made for you and I.
We're all made of Stardust,
And I want to go home.
I look around and see
People, shining like stars.
We're all made of Stardust,
So we're never alone.
Men and women are lonely
Planets, Venus and Mars.
We're all made of stardust,
But we know we have a home.
Look up and see the stars,
Shining in an Indigo Sky.
We're all made of Stardust,
We don't have to be alone.
Life is made for joy,
Love is made for you and I.
We're all made of Stardust,
And I want to go home.
"Did you write that?" Ted asked after a bit. The sound of the band from Burbank faded on the Heavenly wind.
"Not yet," said Ginnie. "Maybe someday." She smiled at him. "Do you have a new assignment for me?"
Ted grinned his crooked-tooth ancient British grin. "You're going to like the next one," he promised.
We'll always miss you, Bob.
Hugs,
Erin
Comments
Indigo Sky for Bob Arnold
A most wonderful tribute to Bob Arnold.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
A Wonderful Tribute
And one that I'm sure Bob would love with all his heart.
I never had a chance to meet or talk to him, but I always enjoyed his writing, and had a huge appreciation for all the hard work he did for our community.
We'll miss you, Bob.
Melanie E.
What a wonderful tribute
What a wonderful tribute to a wonderful guy that touched so many peoples lives personaly an inpersonaly with his light,theres no doubt that he is up there soaring through the stars smiling an being free of any an all health problems.
*sniff*
Thank you. A sweeter eulogy was never written.
Michelle
Thank you as i could never
Thank you as i could never find the right words
Carpe Diem
Lovely
Beautiful lyrics! Here's hoping someone can put them to music, and can find its way here...
Detroit City
You can sing it to a variation on Detroit City, though that's not the music I hear in my head.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Too happy and too sad at the same time...
...life is like that, and your lyrics captured it so completely. I know that I love my life, but there have been so many times and I suspect many more to come where I'll simply 'want to go home.' Beautifully written heartfelt homage. Thank you!
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
I'm very sad to learn that
I'm very sad to learn that Bob Arnold is gone. He will be missed greatly by many, many people, especially those of us who loved his stories.
fitting tribute
Thank you Erin for a wonderful tribute. The song lyrics were beautifully done.
"Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life."
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
Nachruf an einen Bruder
"Ach, daß auch wir schliefen!
Die blühenden Tiefen,
Die Ströme, die Auen
So heimlich aufschauen,
Als ob sie all riefen:
"Dein Bruder ist tot!"
Unter Rosen rot liegt er
Ach, daß wir auch schliefen!
Du kanntest die Wellen
Der Seen, sie schwellen
Im magischen Ringen.
Ein wehmütig Singen
Tief unter den Quellen
Im Schlummer dort hält
Verzaubert die Welt
Du kanntest die Wellen..."
-- Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
------------
"Die Gedanken sind frei / Sie fliegen vorbei
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen / kein Jäger sie schiessen
Mit Pulver und Blei / Die Gedanken sind frei"
-- Leonard Cohen
------------
"Die Gedanken sind frei / Sie fliegen vorbei
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen / Kein Jäger sie schießen
Mit Kugeln und Blei / Die Gedanken sind frei"
Freely if poorly translated
Oh, while we were sleeping,
The ocean waves and currents,
The river banks overflowing,
Startled us with their voices
As if they all shouted at once:
"Your brother is dead,
He lies beneath a rosebed."
Oh, we have slept too long.
The ocean waves knew,
The storms on the lakes,
Learned from their lost magic rings
A song made from his sad story.
In the deep below the waters,
A slumber forever holds him,
Enchanted away from the world.
His struggle has ended.
=======
Our thoughts are free / They fly toward you
No one is allowed to know / Hunters cannot shoot them down
With guns and bullets / Our thoughts are free.
Hugs to all,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Even if this wasn't a tribute
I agree with Jonelle, beautiful and stunning and moving to tears. I know evet single reader took a big deep if shaky breath after reading this.
Bailey Summers
for bob
I did not know bob, but i idolized him. His contribution will always be remembered by all of us. May you find the path of your choice. Untill we meet again.
brandie
And the Angels Sing
Not knowing the BLUE MOON or GREEN SUN universes (a gap in my reading I intend to correct) I didn't get this the 1st time thru but just let the flow of surreal imagery + cosmic situations wash over me. Didn't get the whole "assignments" thing. Am glad I read through it twice. This time I got and felt it. Happy goosebumps, as somebody once said...
~bittersweet hugs, Veronica
And sometimes I just feel like a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm-j6PWNoO0&list=LL&index=4
.
No better way to give him a
No better way to give him a tribute than a story.