Lovin’ you was easy
Losin’ you was hard!
Eulogy for Peter Yarrow
May 31, 1938 ~January 7, 2025
I am devastated. Peter was transitioning and he tried to reach me but we kept missing each other.
Sweet Peter,
I miss you when you are gone sometimes when you sat beside me, but most when I had to stand alone and watch you walk away.
There were so many goodbyes during our 60 year friendship
counterbalanced by a plethora of hellos!
The old long distance midnight phone calls where your voice came to me over a chaos of telephone wires from White Plains, New York and then disappeared somewhere out over the Rockies that separated us, as we both were on the ragged edge of sleep in those early morning hours.
The delight we shared in finding each other in aeroports all over the world.
You were my first great love.
You encouraged me to keep writing. I miss the days when we used to write together, my lyrics your music.
I remember the night we met July 1st, 1964 at a party in the home of Sandy Berg, whom apparently neither one of us actually knew. It was Kismet.
I fell for you like an arrow.
You invited me to come to see you and Noel and Mary at the Hollywood Bowl the following evening. You gave me a front row centre box.
You made me feel like a queen!
I became your “California Girl.”
You introduced me to so many people who became incredible life long friends…They are mostly all gone now but their memories are the legacy of love we all shared.
There are so many fun and beautiful memories stored away.
I loved living with you in New York…it was a fantastic experience.
I became addicted to chocolate egg creams and cherry phosphates from the soda fountain across East 86th street, downstairs from the Croyden Hotel.
You helped me to grow into the woman whom I have become.
We have had a rocky road supporting each other through our separate cancer diagnoses. This insidious disease we are both fighting.
You called me 3 weeks ago just as I was heading into surgery. I missed the call.
Then finding your text saying you “felt the need to speak to me on the phone” made my heart soar like an eagle…My mind went whistling back to the old days…sadly we did not get the chance to speak one last time.
I wish someone would/could put the phone to your ear so I could tell you how much I love you, but then you already know that.
In my culture we never say “Goodbye” we say, “Waiting to see you again.”
Waiting to see you again my old sweetheart…
Mushkala,
Your Sharmagne
Greenwood
by Peter Yarrow
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