Every face is in you,
Every voice
Every sorrow in you,
Every pity, Every love,
Every memory,
Woven into fire.
Every breath is in you,
Every cry,
Every longing in you
Every Singing, Every hope,
Every healing
Woven into fire.
Every heart is in you,
Every tongue,
Every trembling in you,
Every blessing, Every soul,
Every shining,
Woven into fire.
What a beautiful moment– lifting up our voices in gratitude for our mentor and teacher, Carmen-Helena Téllez. Every student that could make it, flew across the nation to remember and seek closure for what was a sudden and shocking death of such a vibrant creature.
To finish off the service we all sang Paulus’ Hymn to the Eternal Flame in the round. As I looked around the room at all these faces, I was utterly undone. The impact, the love, the worth that she was able to imbue into each and every person there, was palpable.
Fr. Michael Driscoll and the family of Carmen distributed her hundreds of scarves that she was known for wearing with such aplomb to all her students and friends. As I sang the Paulus and held my treasured memento of the lady who changed my life, who believed in me when others couldn’t, and who breathed creativity into every conversation I ever had with her, I looked around at the faces full of loss and gratitude, it was as if her scarves had descended almost like a protecting veil in that round space as the last notes faded upwards.
Such a poignant farewell.
01:46:18 is the live performance of the Paulus: