Reflections on Chopin's Funeral March

I've only ever experienced two burials in my whole life.

While the deceased in both have been vastly different in importance to me, the sense of loss and the realization that resulted was the same: Burials are not for the dead. It is for the living.

We need the ceremony, the ritual, to give us that sense of closure.

This realization is driven home to me each time I hear Chopin's Funeral March.

Some who have heard it say its depressing. But I think its more. As you listen to its progression you almost feel as if you are finding that closure and a return to the joy of living by the end of it.

We are all dealing with goodbyes everyday of our life. It can be as simple as waving goodbye to a family member going off to school, or visiting friends going back abroad, or separating from a job. But sometimes it can be a heart-wrenching adiue to a person you know you will never meet again.

Such are closures. But like the music, it leads us back to life again.