"Mr. Manning..."

Death...

Be Not Proud...

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud

BY JOHN DONNE

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

I have known this man just about as long as my memory will allow me to remember anything...  whenever it was that I first met him, it was at my Dad's place of business... where Mr. Manning would come to purchase some odd-and-end pieces that he needed to complete some project on his farm.

Always, ALWAYS a pleasant smile... always glad to see you... and one of those two-handed hand shakes... where one has your hand and the other your wrist...

You knew he meant it.

Invariably, when I would go to dinner, I would see Mr. Manning... at one point in time, I would see him with his 'bride'... as he would call her.  She died a few years ago... I guess that is when his daughter came to live with him... to be his caretaker.

I would always see him, his sister, his son and daughter-in-law.  And I would always make a swing by the table to see him... shake hands... swap a few lies about stuff... He would always thank me for taking a few moments to come and talk to him...  I would assure him that the pleasure was all mine(and it was).

Our visits would always end with my telling him, "I'll see you next time."

I went to his visitation last night... 
and his funeral today.

It was sad... but not really... Mr. Manning had lived to the ripe old age of 100. He would remind me of that when I would see him... 'You know I just turned 100...'

My favorite part of his obituary was that 'He always had one horse or another named Charlie.'

A remarkable man...

Mr. Manning on the right... 
and his best bud, Mr. Latham...
who has also died within the past few weeks...

I shall miss you, Mr. Manning...

~shoes~

edited to included Obituary link...

http://www.rayfuneralhome.net/tribute/details/810/Farno_Clark_Manning/obituary.html