Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of a foot as in the laying of it down.
Rabindranath Tagore, Fruit Gathering.

Conocí a Jaimito en su casa en febrero del 2000. Fui a comprar una de sus libretas hechas a mano y ya no nos despegamos. Vivimos juntos desde ese momento, incluso antes de vivir en la misma casa. El martes pasado Jaimito se me fue, después de casi dos años de vivir con un cáncer re canijo. No tengo dudas de que está mucho mejor que aquí. Ahora nos toca a los que nos quedamos aprender a estar sin él.

Muchas gracias a todos los que nos han demostrado su cariño durante los últimos años y sobre todo en los últimos días. Aquí está una pequeña muestra de todos esos cariños.

Ale, Ale,Ale, mi querida Ale,

The pain came to me from your note. It was the brevity, I think, that told me most. Please give my condolences and my love to Zazil, who is both beautiful and good, which I learned quickly in the time I spent with her and Jaime. That afternoon and evening with them in Guadalajara was like being for a moment in La Boheme, not for tragedy but for the place and the lovesongs. I saw them as lovers in that way. I could hear the music. And when I went with Jaime into the room where he made beautiful books and caressed favorite poems with his pen, I remembered when I was young and thought how he and Zazil had to keep those days, that place, the stairs, the car, the walls, and the music. Music is what I remember about them together -- heard music is sweet, unheard music sweeter yet. It was the sweeter music.

How we live and die is something that has been on my mind for a long time. To be remembered is the only sure immortality. Zazil is young. He will be with her for a long, long time. I am old, so he will be with me only for a little while, but when my time comes, I will take courage from him. I am grateful for the music of them and the manliness of him.

Abrazos a ti y a Zazil,
Achtontli Earl