As a piper, I was asked by a funeral
director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no
family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the
remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest
there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost
and being a typical man, did not stop for directions. I finally
arrived an hour late.. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating
lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologized to the
workers for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave
where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I
would not hold them up for long but this was the proper thing to do.
The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I played out my
heart and soul. I played and I played like I'd never played before,
from Going Home and The Lord is My Shepherd to Flowers of the Forest.
As I played the workers began to weep. I
closed the lengthy session with Amazing Grace and walked to my car.
As I was opening the door and taking off my
coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another, "Sweet Jaysus,
Mary 'n Joseph, I have never seen nothin' like that before and I've
been putting in septic tanks for 22 years."
David in Ballarat
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