Then the-- I have a friend who died at 21.
My husband was a spectacular man.
I was quite fond of him.
He was a man who always wanted to know the truth,
to know the clear thing.
Anyway, this is "the death of fred clifton."
I saw my husband die.
My children and I stood around and held his hand as he died.
And when he died, when he-- this is true-- when he died,
he was in a room that had been his study,
and there was a wall of glass.
And as he was dying, all these birds
came up and hovered at the window and just hovered there.
And then, when he expired, they flew away.
And he was-- he was a man-- clarity meant a lot to him.
Anyway, "the death of fred clifton, 11/10/84, aged 49."
I seemed to be drawn to the center of myself,
leaving the edges of me in the hands of my wife.
And I saw with the most amazing clarity,
so that I had not eyes but sight.
And rising and turning through my skin,
there was all around, not the shapes of things,
but oh, at last, the things themselves.