In case there's another round ...

I've had occasion to read the book known in the west as the Tibetan Book of the Dead several times over the last few years as family, friends and mentors have died and gone back around the wheel (or, perhaps, off it). I've come to appreciate deeply its insights into the process of death - as it occurs for the dead, perhaps, but certainly as it transpires for the living, those who remain behind to say its prayers. It's about hearing in the worlds of both, the Bardo and the world of unfolding illusions we call home while our hearts beat.

If Padma Sambhava, said to be its ancient author, has indeed limned out the phases of the transition between incarnations, then poet Jonathan Williams will have by now either begun celebrating liberation from of his cycle of lives, or been reborn in some form, somewhere.

So, Colonel, in case we weren't able to dissuade you from the temptations of rebirth, let me welcome you back once more to this earthly vale.