Life is on your side: My last week with Harold

So come, my friends, be not afraid We are so lightly here It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear.  - From Leonard Cohen's Boogie Street, photo © Michael Lloyd June, 2015
So come, my friends, be not afraid
We are so lightly here
It is in love that we are made;
In love we disappear.
– From Leonard Cohen’s Boogie Street, photo © Michael Lloyd June, 2015

Harold signing prints, June 19, 2015
Harold signing prints, June 19, 2015
Harold passed over on June 20, 2015. He lived a beautiful and vibrant life until his last day. He was a man who woke up laughing and went to bed with gratitude. Each and every morning he would sit at the breakfast table and say,

“Well, I guess I’m just going to have to resign myself to another happy day.”

He thanked me every night for taking care of him as his health faltered. The truth is that nothing ever brought me more pleasure. No one ever brought me such joy. He was an exceptional human being filled with a wisdom about and a reverence for life that flowed from him. You would be mistaken to take these words only as the love of a grieving wife. For 28 years I was witness to the scores of friends, particularly former students, who found in this person a source of inspiration and beauty that was unique by any standard.

During the past several years, I would sit with Harold and a voice recorder and interview him on a variety of topics, many of which will continue to be shared through this blog — which was one reason for doing it. Several days before he died we had a number of conversations, which I taped. I put together this 3 minute edit from a longer piece and have posted it on YouTube. His inimitable and organic reverence for life prevails. Please take a look by clicking on the image below.

Life is on your side:
A conversation with Harold on June 17, 2015

Sometimes after breakfast he would scribble on stickies one line poems. I would collect them and stick them up around the kitchen. Here is one of the many…

A note from Harold June 16, 2015

There is a
note that transcends
all others;
It is the note
you were not
listening for.
Trust it.
It will
leap from the
nowhere
of ecstasy.
— HF 6/16/15

Harold was a man of the people. A brilliant and inspired artist and photographer whose creations flowed seamlessly from an unstoppable impulse to pay tribute to this life, which he did repeatedly day in and day out. It was a constant joy to be with him — a huge hearted, free-spirited, generous human being. A one of a kind. He is and will be sorely missed.