(This is an excerpt—click on the title to view the whole piece!)
 

The Children of So Many Tears

It was the end of an extraordinary life that began with a tragedy, rose to formidable promises in middle age, and ended in immense sadness and an unbearable feeling of waste. The journey was not a long one (59 years), but its ups and downs and tortuous path had been so treacherous that it seemed more like a crowned eagle had snatched him off the surface of the earth and taken him on a wild ride, violently swinging him around before throwing him back, a lifeless corpse.