Today we received the hard news of the death of someone special to our family, Kelly Bartlett Espinoza of Master Kim’s World Class Tae Kwon Do. Master Kelly was a key instructor when Rader and I were training to earn our black belts in tae kwon do.
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Master Kelly always had a warm smile and word of encouragement for everyone, and she embodied all the five tenets of tae kwon do, especially Indomitable Spirit. When I heard the news, I remembered this poem that was given to me when Rader died. It’s commonly attributed to Henry Van Dyke, but may have been written by Luther Beecher. Photo on Whiteside Mountain by @mattparker.art.
Gone From My Sight
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze,
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch her until she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, and not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
there are other eyes that are watching for her coming;
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“There she comes!”
