9th August 1980

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

9th August 1980

9th August 1980
say a prayer for a friend, an uncle, a lodger

one of our lodgers died 38 years ago, he was a single man from Killybegs Donegal.

he was a friend and an almost uncle to me. So I still remember him, he had no family and we sent his body Home for burial. He died  on the bus  on the way home from his riding holiday. I knew him for the first 20 years of my life or so.

So say a prayer for him, and all those in need of a prayer. My mother used to be the sole mourner when an unclaimed corpse was buried  and the priest would ask her to go to the grave with him. Then the undertaker would give her a lift home. And that is where some of the ideas for the Undertaker in my novel The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker come from.

The Dead and The Living ©

by

Michael Casey

I first saw a deceased when I was nine years old ,my father said not

to worry as the dead are the same as the living , only the laughter

has left them , the sparkle has gone from their eyes , the worry has

been lifted from their shoulders , and their voice has vanished to

eternity .

In paradise the sparkle will return for it is the twinkle of the

stars , the laughter will return too for it is the morning breeze and

the turning tides are their sides shaking with laughter .

I treat the deceased with the same courtesy as I give to the living ,

though I find the deceased are always more polite . My father also

had a few words to say about the living .

He said that the living are only the caretakers of the soul , yet

they think their existance is everything , that they know everything

because they experience many things with their senses .

What the living don't acknowledge is that their time is short and

when I lay their bodies to rest then their souls continue without

them , without their strong , without their weak , without their

beautiful or even ugly temporary form , to where I cannot say , only

that it is a better place .

Percy the undertaker placed the lid on the coffin ,the soul was free

THE BEGINNING